Aspirated vs non-aspirated

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Aspirated vs. non-aspirated h Learn French online 

In French, the letter h can be aspirated, (h aspiré), or not aspirated, (h non aspiré), depending on which

language the word was borrowed from. What do these terms mean?

• Ex.: the word héros, (hero) has an aspirated h, because when the definite article le is placed
before it, the result is le héros, and both words must be pronounced separately. However, the
feminine form of héros, héroïne is a non-aspirated h. Therefore, when you put the definite
artcle in front of it, it becomes l'héroïne, and is pronounced as one word. 

The only way to tell if the h at the beginning of a word is aspirated is to look it up in the dictionary.

Some dictionaries will place an asterisk (*) in front of the entry word in the French-English H section if

the h is aspirated. Other dictionaries will include it in the pronunciation guide after the key word by

placing a (') before the pronunciation. In short, the words must be memorized.

Here is a table of some basic h words that are aspirated and not aspirated:

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aspirated	héros, hero (le héros)
non-aspirated	héroïne, heroine (l'héroïne)

aspirated	haïr, to hate (je hais or j'haïs...)
non-aspirated	habiter, to live (j'habite...)

aspirated	huit, eight (le huit novembre)
non-aspirated	harmonie, harmony (l'harmonie)