Des doutes

Bonjour Archana, 

1. 

Foreign words beginning with an -h are 'aspirate' so will not be elided   as in the case of an -h mute.

2. 

It's not incorrect but the words different and varied are slightly different in English too, non ?

Bonne Continuation !

 

 

Hi Archana, 

I have been working on a lesson on  -h aspirate and -h mute but unfortunately, there's a delay in its publication.

Here is an extract from it :

H aspiré ( aspirate) works like a consonant, it is not sounded or aspirated as its name indicates but its presence is felt by the lack of elision and liaison.

H muet (mute or silent) is a consonant that is not sounded just as if it wasn't there at all.

 

There is no rule to distinguish one from the other but it often depends on the origin of the word. 

For example, words which come from Latin and Greek words are often mute.

e.g words starting with prefixes hydro/hété/ hippo ... 

Anglo-Saxon and foreign words are aspirate -

Le haddock 

halal 

Le handball

Le handicap

Le hall de résidence

Le hamburger 

Le hamster

Le hooligan

Le hot-dog etc.

Hope this helps!