Arabic Alphabets: The letter ه {hāʾ}

There are some easy tips and techniques through which pronouncing Arabic letters becomes an easy task to do. In this article, will do the same. At the end of this article, you will be able to pronounce the letter ه {hāʾ} easily with the different harakat (Vowel movements):

Fat̊ḥa فَتْحَة َ
Kasrah كسرة ِ
Dammah ضمة ُ
Jazm / Sokoun جزم ْ
Shadda شدة ّ

Here it is important to understand some parts of the mouth through which we will be pronouncing the letter ه {hāʾ}.

أقصى الحلق (ạảq̊ṣa ạl̊ḥal̊q): The last part of our throat which is attached to our chest.
وسط الحلق (wasaṭ ạl̊ḥal̊q): The middle part of our throat.
أدنى الحلق (ạảd̊na ạl̊ḥal̊q): The first part of our throat towards our mouth.

The letter ه is pronounced with أقصى الحلق (ạảq̊ṣa ạl̊ḥal̊q), that is the last part of our throat towards the chest.

Now, let’s pronounce ه {hāʾ}: Take out the sound of the English letter ‘H’ but from the last part of your throat towards the chest. Now say “HA”. Practice this sound again and again.

Let’s practice ه {hāʾ} with vowel movements.

Fat̊ḥa فتحة: It is a small diagonal line on the top of the letter and sounds as ‘AA’. For example:

هَ = HA, Read as; H fatah HA

Kasrah كسرة: It is a small diagonal line below a letter and sounds like ‘EE’. For example:

هِ = HE, Read as; H kasrah HE

Dammah ضمة: It is a small comma like symbol on the top of the letter and sounds like ‘UU’. For example:

هُ = HU, Read as; H dammah HU

Jazm / Sokoun جزم: Jazm is also called sokoun, a letter with Jazm is called Sakin. It is a small round symbol above the letter. It means that this letter is joint with the letter before it. For example:

هْ = H sakin, أَهْ= Alif fatha + h sakin = ạå̉h̊

Shadda شدة: When a letter having symbol ّ , it is called Mushadad. It is pronounced by saying the letter twice with one movement of the tongue. It is read by joining two letters and also read with harakat.

Note: Although it is possible to pronounce the letter ه {hāʾ} with Shadda, but it is rarely to find it mushaddad (with shadda) in Arabic words.

To learn more about the Arabic Harakat, here you can find the easiest way to practice Tashkeel:

Now, practice the letter ه {hāʾ} by saying these words:

هَدِيَة ( hadīã – Gift)
هَاْتِفْ (hā̊tif̊ – Phone)
هَرَمْ (haram̊ – Pyramid)
ذَهَبِّي ( dẖahabī – Golden)
هٌدْهُد (huⁿd̊hud – Hoopoe)
شَهِدَ (sẖahida – Witnessed)
مُهَنْدِسْ (muhan̊dis̊ – Engineer)

Listen to some Arabic Words starting with the letter ه {hāʾ}:

Here, you can learn how to write the letter ه {hāʾ}:

For more explanation about how Arabic letters are written, please check out this article: