H h — ha
«ha» is a consonant of the Polish script, read as “throaty h (as in "loch")”. A throaty h, close to the ch of "loch" — and it is pronounced everywhere, word-start and word-end alike. For example, in the word “herbata” — tea. The Polish alphabet has 32 letters in total. Polish has no silent h: herbata is "her-BAH-tah". The digraph ch makes the very same sound — the difference between h and ch is history only. It appears, for example, in the word “herbata” — tea.
In short
| Character | H h |
| Name | ha |
| Sound | throaty h (as in "loch") |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 11th of 32, its neighbours in the course are g and i, appears in 217 words of this site.
How it sounds
A throaty h, close to the ch of "loch" — and it is pronounced everywhere, word-start and word-end alike
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- herbatatea
The character in the “familiar at a glance, foreign to the ear” group
Six letters where trusting the eye costs you: the shape is familiar, but the sound behind it is a different one.
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 (for «ha» it is “throaty h (as in "loch")”, as in the word “herbata”), 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 — 32 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 Polish character h read?
As “throaty h (as in "loch")” — it is a consonant of the Polish script. A throaty h, close to the ch of "loch" — and it is pronounced everywhere, word-start and word-end alike. For example, in the word “herbata” — tea.
What is the letter h called?
Ha. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Polish script: it is called “ha” and reads as “throaty h (as in "loch")”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can h be confused with?
Polish has no silent h: herbata is "her-BAH-tah". The digraph ch makes the very same sound — the difference between h and ch is history only. 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.