Practice Makes Perfect

The 

h aspiré

In the French language, about 1,500 words start with the letter h. And of these, three hundred of 

them are called h aspiré.

You are acquainted with nouns like l’habitant (inhabitant), l’habitude (habit), l’hélicoptère 

(helicopter), l’heure (hour, time), l’histoire (history, story), l’hiver (winter), l’homme (man), l’hôpi

-

tal (hospital), l’hôtel (hotel), l’huile (oil), and so on. These nouns start with an h that is  silent and 

the article that precedes them needs an apostrophe.

The h aspiré is also silent, but the liaison between the article and the noun is not allowed, so 

there is no apostrophe on the article. Here are some of the most important nouns with h aspiré:

la haie 

hedge

la haine 

hatred

le hamac 

hammock

le hameau 

hamlet

la hanche 

hip

le handicap 

handicap

le haricot 

bean

le hasard 

chance

le harcèlement 

harassment

la hausse 

increase, rise

le haut 

top, summit

le héros 

hero

la hiérarchie 

hierarchy 

le homard 

lobster

la honte 

shame

le hors-d’œuvre 

hors-d’oeuvre

This is of the utmost importance, for you don’t want the French laughing at you when they hear: 

les héros de la Révolution, which when pronounced without the aspiration sounds like “The 

 zeros (dummies) of the Revolution”!

As we’ve seen before, rules can be unreliable, so it’s better to remember words in context.

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EXERCICE

Using the preceding vocabulary list of h aspiré words, translate the following sentences 

using the est-ce que form and tu when necessary.

  1.  The hierarchy in this organization is a game of chance.

  2.  The hero of this new film is a man who lives in the hamlet next to our village.

  3.  The hatred between the two brothers is well-known.

  4.  Nora is surprised by the increase of the prices of the hotel’s restaurant.

  5.  The hors-d’oeuvres they served were delicious.

  6.  Do you want to order the lobster on the menu?

  7.  Carole’s father fractured his hip last week.

  8.  The hammock in the garden is a gift from Laurent.

  9.  The cold winter in this city is the main handicap for our grandparents.

10.  The shame of his defeat is hard to accept.

Capitalization

In French, the capitalization of words differs quite a bit from English capitalization. After all this 

business of “rules but no rules,” one rule is pretty solid: capitalization is more frequent in English 

than it is in French. Let’s look at a few examples.

Nationalities

Adjectives that refer to nationalities are capitalized in English but not in French. Nouns that refer 

to nationalities are capitalized in both languages. For example:

Marie est française. 

Marie is French.

Paolo est brésilien. 

Paolo is Brazilian.

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  practice makes perfect  Complete French All-in-One   

Son professeur est un Français 

Her teacher is a Frenchman 

  de Lyon. 

  from Lyon.

Elle partage un appartement 

She shares her apartment with 

  avec une Italienne.  

an Italian woman.

Languages

Languages are capitalized in English but not in French. For example:

Ils apprennent l’arabe. 

They are learning Arabic.

Nous parlons espagnol à la maison. 

We speak Spanish at home.

Locations

When you write an address, the words for street, avenue, place, and other names for roads are not 

capitalized. For example:

25, rue de l’Université

55, avenue de Neuilly

110, boulevard des Capucines

37, quai Branly

1, place des Abbesses

7, impasse de la Tonnelle