Native Spanish speakers don't usually struggle with spelling because Spanish is a mainly phonetic language: it's pronounced the way it's written. Each letter has a specific sound, so it's relatively easy to write the words the way you hear them.
However one of the difficulties for Spanish language learners and even Spanish-speakers is knowing whether to write a word with an h or not, as the letter h is silent in Spanish, therefore when you hear a word pronounced you don't know whether it contains an h.
Luckily there are some rules to follow that will help you decide.
Which Spanish words are written with "h"?
- You need an h in front of dyphthongs ua, ue and ui. For example:
- With words that start with ia or ie:
- Words that start with hum- and are followed by a vowel:
Which Spanish words are not written with "h"?
- Words that start with alv- or alb-:
- Words that start with ex- (unless they use the prefix of Greek origin hexa- like hexágono (hexagon) for example):
It's also important to note that there are lots of words using prefixes of Greek origin that are all written with h; for example: halógeno (halogen), hepatitis (hepatitis), hipopótamo (hippopotamus), hipermercado (superstore), etc.
See also Spelling: b or v and Spelling: ll or y
