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Ortografía: La letra H

Why do you want to know this?

Why do you want to know this?

The letter H is common in many words in Spanish but it does not make a sound, so people who have learned Spanish mostly from hearing it at home can have a hard time knowing where to use it. For people who have learned Spanish in a classroom, the challenge is different because when they see it written they want to make the “H” sound like in English and end up miss pronouncing the words. Not using the letter /H/ correctly can also cause misunderstandings in homonyms: 

Hola 👋

Ola 🏝🌊


We want to know the rules and practice our spelling so people can understand what we write.

How to become better at spelling

There are many spelling rules, sometimes too many! While it is good to know them, the best way to become a better speller is by doing the following: 

  1. Lee mucho

  2. Aprende a usar el diccionario

  3. Lleva cuenta de tus errores más comunes 

  4. Vuelve a escribir las palabras erradas

  5. Haz dictados para practicar

  6. Escribe mucho y revisa cada borrador

  7. Usa recursos tecnológicos como “spell check” 

  8. Estudia las reglas básicas

 

¿Cuáles de estas actividades ya haces?

Some rules for the use of H in Spanish 

While the letter H is voiceless in Spanish, it still appears in many words. Here are some spelling rules for the letter H at the beginning of a word: 

 

  • Use an H at the beginning of words that start with a diphthong (two vowels in a row) if the first vowel is an <i> or a <u>

  • Hielo, hueco, huipil, huella, huevo

 

  • Use an H at the beginning of words with the prefix is <hidro>, <hidra> <hiper>, <hipo>

  • Hipopótamo, hidráulico, hiperactivo, hidrógeno

 

  • Use an H at the beginning of a word with the prefix <hecto>, <hepta>, <hexa> and <hemi>- 

  • Hectómetro, heptasílabo, hexágono, hemiciclo

 

  • Use an H when a word begins with <um> followed by a vowel

  • Humano, humilde, humo, humareda

 

  • Use an H on the old Spanish words that used to be spelled with an F

  • Formosa = hermosa, Facer = hacer

 

  • Use an H on all verb forms of verbs that are spelled with an H

  • Haber, hacer, honrar, hurtar

 

Here are some spelling rules for the letter H inside a word: 

 

  • Use an H between two syllables when the first syllable ends with a consonant and the second one starts with a vowel (the exception is if the first syllable is a prefix and the second word doesn’t start with an h, ex. inalámbrico)

  • Inhalar, anhelar, inherente

 

  • Use an H when a word has three vowels in a row and the last two are a dipthong that begins with a u.

  • Ahuecar, rehuir

 

  • Use an H when a word has a prefix and the word attached to it is written with an H:

  • Malhumor, deshonrar

¡Practiquemos!

¡Hola! A continuación tienes algo para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!

Using H to differentiate words that sound the same but mean different things

There are instances when we use the letter H to differentiate homophones. Here are some examples:

  • Hora (hour)
  • Ora (She prays)

  • Hola (hello)
  • Ola (wave)

  • Honda (deep)
  • Onda (undulation)

  • Hecho (a fact / something done)
  • Echo (to throw or kick out)

  • Aprender (to learn)
  • Aprehender (to apprehend)

  • Habría (from ‘haber’)
  • Abría (from “abrir”)

  • Hice (from “hacer”)
  • Ice (from “izar”)

  • Desecho (unraveled / undone)
  • Deshecho (trash)

  • Ha (from “haber”)
  • A (preposition meaning “to”)

¡Practiquemos!

¡Hola! A continuación tienes algo para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!

Pensamientos finales

Paying attention to spelling helps us communicate better in written form, avoid confusions and project a professional image. Poor spelling can affect people’s career prospects and leave a bad impression. It is important to make an effort to spell well!

There are lots of spelling rules and they can be hard to memorize. A better approach is to read a lot while paying attention to how things are spelled, that way, when you are writing, your brain knows something doesn’t look right. Still, it is good to know some rules or where to find the rules for when you have a doubt. Using a dictionary can also be a great strategy. Finally, while spellcheckers catch many spelling errors, sometimes they miss the context and don’t alert us to words that may sound the same but need to be spelled differently, so we still need to use our brains. 


Lindo video: Aprende a mejorar tu ortografía la letra H

This unit “Ortografía: La letra H” was created by Alegría Ribadeneira and is licensed  CC BY-NC-SA