Do you use A or AN Before H?

Grammar / By

We use “a” before “h” when we pronounce the “h” sound and “an” before “h” when the word uses a silent “h”.

I had a heavy lunch.

My father was an honest man.

Why is An used before H?

We use “an” before “h” when the word that begins with “h” has a vowel sound at the beginning. It all depends on pronunciation.

Words like “heir”,” hour” and “honest” all have a silent “h” at the beginning and therefore need to use “an”

He is heir to the throne.

I will be there in an hour.

He is an honest man.

Which is correct: “a hotel” or “an hotel”?

“A hotel” is correct because we pronounce the “h” in “hotel”.

We stayed at a hotel for four nights.

Which is correct: “a historic” or “an historic”?

“A historic” is correct but “an historic” is also very common and not a problem to use in English as it used to be more common.

It was a historic win for the team.

A or AN Before H for an Acronym

We use “An” before an acronym that begins with “H” because “H” is pronounced with a vowel sound “aitch”. You can read more about a and an before acronyms here. 

We need an HSBC employee here now!

A or AN Before H in the U.K and Australia

There is no difference between American English and English in the U.K and Australia for this rule in English. You still need to follow the fact that you should use “a” when there is a consonant sound and “an” when there is a vowel sound.

Many people in the U.K never pronounce the “h” sound in words so it is up to the speaker to decide if they want to use “a” or “an”.

Word List(Examples)

The vast majority of words do not use a silent “h”

A before H

Hard

Healthy

Heaven

Heavenly

Heavy

Heinous

Helpful

High

Holistic

Horrible

Horrific

Hot 

Huge

Human

Hungry

Hypnotic

An before H

Honour

Honest 

Hour

Heir

Hourglass

Honestly 

Herb(American English)

Conor
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