Practicing the Letter ह (ha)

Here are a few Hindi words that contain the letter ह (ha). The letter ह (ha) is not the most-used letter in the Devanagari syllabary, but it is important. Since it is used in the verb होना (honā) meaning to be, you will find it throughout Hindi texts.

• हमारा ☑ Answer
• होना ☑ Answer
• रहना ☑ Answer
• पहन्ना ☑ Answer
• कहाँ ☑ Answer
• महात्मा ☑ Answer

In the word रहना, notice that no inherent a sound comes between the letters ह (ha) and न (na). This is because the word has three syllables and ends in a vowel letter, as we covered in the rules of unpronounced vowels.

The same condition occurs in पहन्ना. In this word, you also see the conjunct न्न (nn) which you have read before. You'll notice however, that we go ahead and transliterate an a sound between ह (ha) and न्न (nn) because न्न (nn) already lost the a sound when it was made into a consonant by combining two of the letter न (na). There cannot be three consonants in a row without any vowels.

Be careful with the word कहाँ. The last letter has the candrabindu symbol, which means that the letter ा (ā) should be nasalized.

Lastly, in case you've forgotten, that strange letter in महात्मा is actually a conjunct, consisting of the letters त (ta) and म (ma). You've seen the word आत्मा, ātmā (English: soul) before; therefore महात्मा means saint (literally, great soul). You might have seen this word when reading of Mahatma Gandhi, the title given to Mohandas Gandhi. Although we have transliterated it differently here than you may have seen it, you now know the correct Hindi spelling and pronunciation.