Silent H (in him, her, has) h→∅

/h/ is dropped entirely — preceding word links directly into the remaining vowel (works after both consonants and vowels).

Start here

The /h/ at the start of small unstressed pronouns and helping verbs — he, him, her, his, have, has, had — drops completely in connected speech. Tell him becomes tell-im; give her, give-er; call his, call-iz; did he, did-ee. The /h/ takes effort from a standing start and adds a breath that breaks the linking rhythm, so dropping it lets the preceding sound slide straight into the vowel. The rule fires only on function words and never on content words like house or happy.

How it triggers

Watch it happen in real phrases.

Three example phrases showing exactly when this rule fires.

tell him

The /h/ at the start of him drops, and the /l/ at the end of tell links straight into the /ɪ/ that's left behind, giving you tell-im. The same shortcut applies to tell her (tell-er), told him (told-im), kill him (kill-im): anywhere the unstressed pronoun follows another word, vowel or consonant alike.

give her

The /h/ at the start of her drops, and the /v/ at the end of give links to /ɚ/, giving you give-er. Listen for love her, save her, have her, save his: they all work the same way once the H is gone.

did he

Common in questions like did he, could he, would he, should he. The H drops, and the auxiliary's final consonant flaps or links into the remaining /i/, giving you did-ee, could-ee.

Where you'll hear it

In real American conversation.

The silent H shows up in nearly every casual sentence with one of these pronouns or auxiliaries. Common: Tell him I'll be there, I gave her the keys, What has he done. The next time you hear someone say tell-im I'll be there or I gave-er the keys, that's the silent H at work — not sloppy speech, just American rhythm.

Underlying sounds

The sound this rule drops.

Click to explore the /h/ phoneme — how it's produced and where Americans keep it versus drop it.

/h/

/h/ as in HAT
The words that drop their H

8 phrases where the /h/ vanishes mid-sentence.

Each chip is two words said the way an American actually says them — listen for the /h/ disappearing into the rhythm.

tell him tell-im
give her give-er
did he did-ee
love her love-er
told him told-im
should he should-ee
save his save-iz
call her call-er
Hear the drop in context

Five sentences where the /h/ disappears.

Each one carries at least one pronoun or auxiliary in unstressed position — listen for how the preceding word links straight into the vowel that's left behind.

She asked him to wash the clothes for two months.

shee ASKT hihm tuh WAHSH dhuh KLOHZ fer TOO MUHNTHS.

I must have packed the wrong bag by accident.

ahy MUHST huhv PAKT dhuh RAHNG BAG bahy AK·suh·duhnt.

He has season tickets for his favorite basketball team.

hee huhz SEE·zuhn TIH·kuhts fer hihz FAY·ver·uht BA·skuht·bahl TEEM.

I have a meeting at eleven-thirty.

ahy hav uh MEE·duhng uht uh·LEH·vuhn THUR·dee.
FAQ

Common questions about H-dropping.

Why do Americans drop the H in words like "him" and "her"?
Because him and her are unstressed grammar words, and dropping the /h/ lets the preceding word link smoothly into the vowel. Stopping airflow to push out a crisp /h/ from a standing start breaks the sentence's rhythm, while dropping it lets tell him flow effortlessly into tell-im. The rule keeps stress on the content words and lets the pronouns fade into a quick rhythmic background.
Should I always drop the H in pronouns and helping verbs?
Drop the /h/ by default when the word is unstressed mid-phrase. Keep it when the word starts a sentence (His keys are on the table) or when emphasizing against a contrast (Give it to him, not her). For ordinary mid-sentence use — I'll give it to him later — the H disappears completely. Pronouncing it every time sounds unnatural to American ears, like over-articulating for a microphone.
Does H-dropping happen with every word that starts with H?
No. Only on the small set of unstressed grammar words: he, him, his, her, have, has, had. Content words like house, happy, heavy, history always keep their H. Dropping the H on house is a feature of many British regional accents (Cockney, Yorkshire, West Country, and others), not American. American H-dropping just smooths the rhythm of pronouns and auxiliary verbs that don't carry the main meaning of the sentence.

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