Һ һ — h
«h» is a consonant of Kazakh, the “Kazakh Cyrillic” script, read as “h as in "hat"”. A light breath, exactly the h of English "hat" — not the raspier kh. The Kazakh alphabet has 42 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. Rare: only in Arabic and Persian loanwords. It appears, for example, in the word “Жиһазды пәтер” — furnished apartment.
In short
| Character | Һ һ |
| Name | h |
| Sound | h as in "hat" |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 31st of 42, its neighbours in the course are х and ц, appears in 4 words of this site.
How it sounds
A light breath, exactly the h of English "hat" — not the raspier kh
The character in the “the nine letters of their own” group
Everything the familiar alphabet lacks. Six of them are vowels, and vowel harmony rests on them: a word is spoken all-back or all-front, and the ending adjusts to it.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 42 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Kazakh character һ read?
As “h as in "hat"” — it is a consonant of the “Kazakh Cyrillic” script. A light breath, exactly the h of English "hat" — not the raspier kh.
What is the letter һ called?
H. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Kazakh script: it is called “h” and reads as “h as in "hat"”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can һ be confused with?
Rare: only in Arabic and Persian loanwords. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.