The letter h in Spanish is completely silent. It does not represent any sound at all. Whether it appears at the beginning of a word, in the middle, or in a cluster, you treat it as if it were not there. This is one of the simplest pronunciation rules in Spanish — and also one of the most surprising for learners coming from English.
Total Silence
Unlike English, where h produces the sound in hello or hat, Spanish h has no sound whatsoever. It is purely a spelling convention, a historical leftover from Latin.
Hola, ¿cómo estás?
Hello, how are you?
El hombre habla con su hijo.
The man is talking to his son.
Note that hola is pronounced exactly like ola (wave), and hecho (done) sounds identical to echo (I throw). The h is silent but still required in spelling.
H in Common Words
Many everyday words start with a silent h. Get used to reading them without any sound for the letter.
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hola | [ˈola] | hello |
| hora | [ˈora] | hour |
| hombre | [ˈombɾe] | man |
| hijo | [ˈixo] | son |
| hacer | [aˈseɾ] | to do / to make |
| hermano | [eɾˈmano] | brother |
| hoy | [oi̯] | today |
| huevo | [ˈweβo] | egg |
Mi hermano prepara huevos para el desayuno.
My brother is making eggs for breakfast.
What time is it?
H Inside Words
Silent h can also appear in the middle of words, where it simply divides syllables visually without adding a sound.
El buho vuela por la noche.
The owl flies at night.
La prohibición ya no existe.
The prohibition no longer exists.
The Digraph CH
The combination ch is a completely different story. Historically, ch was considered a single letter of the alphabet (you could find it as its own section in older dictionaries, between c and d). Although it no longer counts as a letter since 2010, it still represents one single sound — [tʃ], like the English ch in cheese.
El chico come chocolate.
The boy is eating chocolate.
¡Qué chévere!
How cool!
Despite containing an h, the ch digraph is not silent. The c and h together form a distinct consonant that is pronounced the same as English ch.
When You Do Hear an H Sound
If you hear what sounds like an English h in Spanish, it is almost certainly coming from a j or from a g before e or i — not from the letter h. For example, Juan starts with , not [h], and gente also starts with . See G and J for details.
Occasionally, foreign names keep an aspirated h sound: Hawaii, hobby, hámster. In these borrowed words, speakers may approximate the English h, often writing it with a j instead: jámster, jonrón (home run).
El jonrón ganó el partido.
The home run won the game.
Summary
- H alone = silent everywhere.
- CH = one sound, like English ch in cheese.
- J and G before e/i = the sound that might look like an h but is actually a separate letter.
See Also
- Spelling: H Words for common patterns and word lists.
- The Spanish Alphabet.
Related Topics
- Words with HA2 — H is silent but still written — here are the rules for when to include it
- The Spanish AlphabetA1 — The 27 letters of the Spanish alphabet, their names, and an overview of pronunciation