How to differentiate between the letter حـ/ح {ḥāʾ/ḥah} and the letter ه/هـ {hāʾ/hah} in Arabic?

The letter ح is considered one of the most difficult letters for a non-native speaker who begins to learn Arabic. It is often pronounced by most learners as the letter هـ (haa’) or  خ ( khaa’); For this reason, through this article, we will try to provide some notes that help you pronounce the letter ح and the difference between it and the letter هـ.

First, the difference between the articulation point of the letter ح and the letter هـ:

• The letter هـ (hah) comes out from the lower throat.
• It is the same point from which the exhalation sound comes out strongly with an audible sound, and note that the sound of the letter هـ is similar to the sound of an exhalation when a sound comes out with the exhalation (ah).
• The letter ح (ḥah) comes out from the middle throat.
• The sound of the letter h resembles the hissing of a snake, and hoarseness of voice.

The difference between the sound of the letter ح and the letter هـ.

• When you’re trying to pronounce the letter ح you need to keep your mouth open when you do.
• The sound of letter ح like the sound you make when you clear your throat.
• When you’re trying to pronounce the letter هـ you can keep your mouth closed when you do unlike the letter ح. Now trying saying (ha) or (ah) while your mouth closing.

How do you make sure that you pronounce the letter ح correctly?

1- When you try to pronounce the letter ح correctly, put your hand on your throat, you will find that there is a vibration in the middle of the throat or larynx. If you find the vibration somewhere else; This means that there is an error in the pronunciation of the letter.

2- When you try to pronounce the letter هـ hah correctly, put your hand on your lower throat, you will find that there is a vibration in the lowest of the throat or lower larynx.

The letter  ح is a difficult letter for non-Arabic speakers, it has a sound that doesn’t exist in English, and it doesn’t sound like an H. You may hear it as H, but actually, it’s not an H because your ear is not used to hear it. How do you overcome this problem?

Some tips to overcome the issue of the letter ح:

• The letter هـ is the sound of the English h, more or less. It’s soft-sounding; just a period of voicelessness inside a vowel sound. If you speak English or another language with a h sound, there’s probably nothing you need to learn, except you have to be able to pronounce the h sound in any position, even between a vowel and a consonant. If you speak a language without a h sound, like French or Russian, you may have a harder time, but letter ح is different; it’s stronger, raspier. It’s made at the top of the throat, right behind the mouth.
• You can try to say it by leaning your head down towards your chest so that your throat was constricted, then breathing out. It sounds like you’re trying to breathe out while being strangled. In phonetics, that’s called pharyngeal. You can’t lean your head down whenever you say the sound; that technique just helps you hear how the sound, so you can copy it by constricting your throat muscles (or the muscles at the base of your tongue) while your head is in its normal position.

Pronunciation examples:

In this article, we talked about how to pronounce the letter ح and the letter هـ, the difference between them, and how to overcome the problems you face when pronouncing the letter ح. Let us know in the comment section below if you have any thoughts or if you need more clarifications!