Letter ĥ

The Letter Ĥ

Foundations

The rarest sound in Esperanto, and a rough one.

How It Works

Ĥ is the rarest sound in Esperanto. It is the sound at the end of Scottish loch and German Bach. You make it with the back of your tongue, in the same place where you make k.

To learn it, start with k. Then loosen your tongue a little so the air can pass through with a rubbing sound.

WordMeaning
ĥorochoir
eĥoecho
monaĥomonk
ĈeĥioCzechia

Do not mix ĥ up with h. Plain h is a soft breath, like the h in English hat. Some words with ĥ also have a form with k: ĥemio and kemio both mean chemistry, and this course uses kemio. Other words, such as eĥo, have no k form, so you still need the sound.

Examples (4)

  1. La ĥoro de Pedro kantas.

    Pedro's choir sings.

    Ĥoro starts with the rough ĥ.

  2. Ĉu vi aŭdas la eĥon?

    Do you hear the echo?

    Eĥon has ĥ between two vowels.

  3. Amara vizitas monaĥejon en Ĉeĥio.

    Amara visits a monastery in Czechia.

    Monaĥejon and Ĉeĥio both have ĥ.

  4. Priya studas kemion.

    Priya studies chemistry.

    Kemio is spelled with k, not with ĥ.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Letter ĥFoundationsThe Letter Ĥ

Learn This First

Ĥ is the rarest marked letter, so it follows the other hat letters.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.