Sorting game
H muet or h aspiré? Sort French words that start with h
L'hôtel but le héros: sort French h-words into h muet (elision and liaison) and h aspiré (no elision, no liaison), with the most common words you'll actually meet.
- A2
- 12 words to sort
- 2 boxes
- Tap to play
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
The French h is always silent, but it behaves in two ways. With h muet, the word acts as if it starts with a vowel: l'hôtel, les‿hommes. With h aspiré, it blocks elision and liaison: le héros, les | haricots. Dictionaries mark h aspiré with an asterisk or an apostrophe.
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Tap a word, then the box it belongs in.
Why two kinds of h?
Most h aspiré words come from Germanic languages (le hareng, la hache, le hall) or are later borrowings (le hamburger, le hockey). Words from Latin usually have h muet (l'homme from homo, l'heure from hora). There's no reliable spelling clue, so learn the common h aspiré words as a list.
- les‿haricotsles | haricots
No liaison before h aspiré; saying "lé-zaricots" is a famous joke.
- l'hérosle héros
Héros has an h aspiré, but its feminine l'héroïne has an h muet!
- Serveur
En accompagnement, des haricots verts ou des frites ?
As a side, green beans or chips?
- Vous
Les… haricots, s'il vous plaît. Sans liaison, c'est ça ?
The… beans, please. No liaison, right?
- Serveur
Exactement ! Sinon, on dirait « les zaricots » !
Exactly! Otherwise it sounds like "les zaricots"!
A quick test: if a dictionary marks the word with an apostrophe or an asterisk before the h, it's an h aspiré. Common ones to learn first: le haricot, le héros, la honte, le hasard, la hauteur, le hall, le hamburger, la Hollande, le homard.