Spanish Words That Start With H: 30 Essentials
🇪🇸 Spanish · 30 cards · A2 · by Lucía Herrera
The letter H is silent in Spanish, and that one fact causes most of the trouble my students have with these words. Hola, hora and hueso all begin with a vowel sound, so hueso comes out closer to "weso" and hielo closer to "yelo". Here I have collected the thirty H-words my students meet first: everyday nouns like hora, hoja and hambre, the verbs you cannot avoid (hacer, hablar and hay, from haber), and a handful of adjectives such as húmedo and harto. Read every example out loud and let the H disappear completely. The notes flag gender traps, adjective agreement and the Spain/Mexico differences I hear every day.
Flip through the cards, then switch to Quiz. Tap the play button on any row to hear it. The full table below is there to read, print or copy into your own flashcard app.
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All 30 cards
| # | Spanish | English | Example | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hola The H is silent: it sounds like "ola". Neutral in any register. | hello, hi | Hola, buenos días, ¿puedo pasar? Hi, good morning, may I come in? | |
| 2 | hoy One syllable; it rhymes with soy. Don't confuse it with hay (there is/are). | today | Hoy no tengo ganas de cocinar. I don't feel like cooking today. | |
| 3 | hacer Very irregular: hago, hice, haré, haz (informal command). | to do, to make | ¿Qué vas a hacer el domingo? What are you going to do on Sunday? | |
| 4 | hablar Regular -ar verb. Hablar con alguien (to someone), hablar de algo (about something). | to speak, to talk | Necesito hablar contigo un momento. I need to talk to you for a moment. | |
| 5 | hay Impersonal form of haber; never changes for plural: hay un libro / hay dos libros. | there is, there are | No hay leche en el refrigerador. There's no milk in the fridge. | |
| 6 | hombre Masculine: el hombre. As an interjection, ¡hombre! shows surprise and is said to men and women alike. | man | Ese hombre dejó su paraguas en la mesa. That man left his umbrella on the table. | |
| 7 | hora Feminine: la hora. ¿Qué hora es? = What time is it? | hour, time (of day) | La película empieza en media hora. The film starts in half an hour. | |
| 8 | hermano Masculine; feminine hermana (sister). The plural hermanos also covers siblings of both sexes. | brother | Mi hermano menor estudia medicina. My younger brother studies medicine. | |
| 9 | hija Feminine; masculine hijo (son). Hijos = children. Also used affectionately: hija, no te preocupes. | daughter | Su hija ya camina sola. Their daughter already walks by herself. | |
| 10 | hasta Also means "even": hasta mi abuela lo sabe (even my grandma knows). Goodbyes: hasta luego, hasta mañana. | until, up to, as far as | Trabajo hasta las seis todos los días. I work until six every day. | |
| 11 | hambre Feminine, but takes el in the singular: el hambre, mucha hambre. Tener hambre = to be hungry. | hunger | Tengo hambre, ¿comemos algo? I'm hungry, shall we eat something? | |
| 12 | huevo Masculine; sounds like "webo". In the plural it is also vulgar slang for testicles, so watch the context. | egg | Me preparé dos huevos revueltos. I made myself two scrambled eggs. | |
| 13 | hielo Masculine; pronounced "yelo". | ice | ¿Me pones más hielo, por favor? Could you put in more ice for me, please? | |
| 14 | helado Masculine as a noun: un helado de fresa. As an adjective it agrees: tengo las manos heladas (my hands are freezing). | ice cream; frozen, freezing (adj.) | Nos tomamos un helado en la plaza. We had an ice cream in the square. | |
| 15 | habitación Feminine: la habitación. Standard in Spain and in hotels everywhere; at home Mexicans usually say cuarto or recámara. | room, bedroom | La habitación tiene vista al mar. The room has a sea view. | |
| 16 | hospital Masculine: el hospital. Stress on the last syllable: hos-pi-TAL. | hospital | Lo llevaron al hospital en ambulancia. They took him to the hospital in an ambulance. | |
| 17 | historia Feminine: la historia. One word for both meanings; context decides (clase de historia = history class). | story; history | Me contó una historia muy rara. He told me a very strange story. | |
| 18 | hoja Feminine: la hoja. Same word for tree leaves and paper; hoja de afeitar = razor blade. | leaf; sheet of paper | Se me acabaron las hojas del cuaderno. I've run out of pages in my notebook. | |
| 19 | hogar Masculine: el hogar. Warmer and more abstract than casa (the building); for "I miss home" say extraño mi casa / echo de menos mi casa. | home | Esta casa por fin se siente como un hogar. This house finally feels like a home. | |
| 20 | hombro Masculine: el hombro. Don't mix it up with hombre (man). | shoulder | Me duele el hombro derecho. My right shoulder hurts. | |
| 21 | hueso Masculine; sounds like "weso". Also the pit of a peach or an olive. | bone; stone, pit (of fruit) | El perro enterró un hueso en el jardín. The dog buried a bone in the garden. | |
| 22 | humo Masculine: el humo. Steam is vapor, not humo. | smoke | ¡Sale humo de la cocina! There's smoke coming out of the kitchen! | |
| 23 | hermoso Adjective: hermoso/hermosa. Warm and slightly literary; bonito and lindo are the everyday words. | beautiful, lovely | ¡Qué hermoso quedó el jardín! The garden turned out beautiful! | |
| 24 | húmedo Adjective: húmedo/húmeda. Stress on the first syllable, hence the written accent. | damp, humid, moist | La toalla todavía está húmeda. The towel is still damp. | |
| 25 | harto Colloquial; agrees with the speaker (estoy harta if you're a woman) and goes with estar + de. In Mexico and Chile harto also means "a lot": había harta gente. | fed up, sick of | Estoy harto de esperar el autobús. I'm fed up with waiting for the bus. | |
| 26 | hervir Stem-changing e→ie: hierve, hierven; and e→i in the preterite: hirvió. | to boil | Pon el agua a hervir. Put the water on to boil. | |
| 27 | herir Stem-changing: hiere, hirió. For everyday aches use doler: me duele la cabeza. | to wound, to hurt (emotionally or physically) | No quiero herir sus sentimientos. I don't want to hurt his feelings. | |
| 28 | huir Spelling change to y before a, e, o: huyo, huye, huyó. | to flee, to run away | El ladrón huyó por la ventana. The thief escaped through the window. | |
| 29 | huella Feminine: la huella. Huella digital = fingerprint; also figurative: dejó una huella en mi vida. | footprint, mark, trace | Dejó huellas de barro en el suelo. He left muddy footprints on the floor. | |
| 30 | herramienta Feminine: la herramienta. Used for digital tools too: una herramienta de trabajo. | tool | Necesito una herramienta para apretar este tornillo. I need a tool to tighten this screw. |
Native Spanish speaker from Valencia, now in Mexico City. I tutor Spanish online and keep a notebook of the words my students trip over. Every deck here comes from that notebook.
Questions about this deck
- Is the letter H silent in every Spanish word?
- At the start of a word, yes: in standard Spanish hola sounds like "ola", hora like "ora", hueso like "weso". H only represents a sound in the digraph CH (coche, mucho) and in a few loanwords such as hámster, hachís or hobby, where many speakers give it a soft breathy sound. It is still written in every case, and dropping it is a spelling mistake.
- Why do Spanish speakers say "el hambre" if hambre is feminine?
- Because hambre begins with a stressed a- sound (the H is silent). Spanish avoids the la + stressed-a clash, so the article becomes el: el hambre, el agua, el área. The noun stays feminine, as the adjectives show: tengo mucha hambre, un hambre terrible. In the plural the normal article returns: las aguas, las hambrunas.
- What is the difference between hay, ahí and hoy?
- Hay means "there is / there are" and is followed by a noun: no hay pan. Ahí is the adverb "there", a place, and often follows a verb: déjalo ahí, ahí está. Hoy means "today": hoy llueve. Hay and hoy are single syllables (diphthongs), while ahí has two syllables with the stress on the final í: a-Í.
- How do I pronounce Spanish words spelled hu- and hi- plus a vowel?
- Drop the H and read the rest. Hu- before a vowel sounds like English "w": hueso, huevo, huella, hueco. Hi- before a vowel sounds like English "y": hielo, hierba, hierro. That is why you sometimes see the joking spelling "güevo" for huevo — it mirrors the real sound, but it is not correct writing.
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