Pronouncing the letter h in French

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Pronouncing the letter h

At the start of a word, the letter h is either:
• silent: the silent h doesn't alter the pronunciation. As with words which start with a vowel, we make liasons and contractions (le/la → l', de → d').

un hôpital , les hôpitaux a hospital, hospitals 
un hôtel , des hôtels a hotel, hotels
l'histoire , les histoires the story , stories
un habit , des habits an item of clothing,  items of clothing

• aspirated or voiced: the aspirated h is considered to be like a consonant, so we don't make any liaisons or contractions.

un héros , les héros  a hero, heroes
le hibou , les hiboux an owl, owls
un haricot , des haricots a bean, beans

In the middle of a word, the letter h allows us to separate two vowel sounds:
une trahison a treason, a betrayal
incompréhensible incomprehensible
ébahi dumbstruck
We don't usually pronounce the letter h after a consonant.
le bonheur happiness
une bibliothèque a library
Special cases: ch is generally pronounced che , and ph is pronounced like the letter f .
un chat a cat
un éléphant an elephant

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