As you might have guessed, /h/ is a voiceless sound.

It is a fricative, which means, you may feel some friction or airflow on the back of your tongue.

You make the /h/ sound by relaxing the back of your tongue and releasing air.

You will feel the air between the back of your tongue and the soft palate. Like this, /h/.

Some English learners will find that they make the /h/ sound a bit further back, so it sounds more like this, /h/ or this, /h/.

In this case, you'll want to move the sound forward and relax the back of your throat a bit more.

So think about sighing, like this.

And then take away the vowel, /h/.

Another challenge comes into play depending on the vowel sound that follows the /h/ .

Sometimes, when it's followed by a /u/ or /ʊ/ sound, it can be a bit more challenging.

And the reason for this is that the consonant /h/ is placed closely to these two back vowel sounds.

So let's try practicing the /h/ sound in relation to the /u/ sound and the /ʊ/ sound.

Your challenge is to gently release your breath on the /h/ and then add the voice of the vowel sound.

So try this with me.

/h/, /u/, who.

/h/, /u/, whose.

/h/, /u/, hoot.

/h/, /u/, hoop.

/h/, /ʊ/, hook.

/h/, /ʊ/, hooked.

Can you feel the /h/ before the vowel?

Now, for an extra challenge, let's try the /h/ before the yu sound.

First, let's try the combination together.

/h/, yu, hu, /h/, yu, hu, /h/, yu, hu, /h/, yu, hu.

And now let's try a few words.

Human.

Huge.

Humane.

Humility.

Humor.

Keep up your practice on EnglishCentral and good luck!