Lesson 4. Voiced and voiceless: h ↔ ch, devoicing, v at the end of a syllable

I can tell the voiced h from the voiceless ch by ear and in writing, spell a word as the dictionary does even when I hear a voiceless sound at the end, and read v at the end of a syllable as a short u, like the w in “now”: zastávka, domov.

h and ch; g

h is a voiced sound, [ɦ]: an h with voice. Say “aha” and let the throat buzz through the h: hlava (head). ch is voiceless, like ch in Scottish “loch”: chlieb (bread); never the ch of “church”. h and ch are a pair, with voice and without, like b and p. The checker tells h from ch: ch where h belongs is a mistake, although you can leave out the marks over the letters. English h has no voice and is silent in “hour”; Slovak h always has voice and is always heard: hotel, hudba. g is the hard g of “go”, only in borrowed words: galéria (gallery). At the end of a word h sounds voiceless, like ch: sneh (snow) — [sňech]. A long syllable isn't stressed: in kuchár the stress is on ku-. Common mistakes: • × hlava said with a g or with a silent h — the h has voice. • × “chlava” in writing — write hlava.

h and ch

h is the voiced partner of the voiceless ch, as b is of p.

Letter	Sound	Example	Translation
h	voiced: the throat buzzes [ɦ]	hlava	head
ch	voiceless, like ch in “loch”	chlieb	bread
g	g as in “go”, only in borrowed words	galéria	gallery
h at the end of a word	voiceless, like ch	sneh [sňech]	snow

Lesson notes

h and ch; g

Devoicing, v at the end of a syllable, and au

Unlike English, a voiced consonant at the end of a word or before a voiceless one sounds voiceless: chlieb — [chliep], muž — [muš]. The spelling doesn't change: spell the word, not the sound. v at the end of a syllable or a word is a short u, [ŭ], like the w at the end of “now”: krv — [krŭ]. Never [f], never a full v. At the start of a word before a voiceless consonant, v sounds [f]: všetko (everything) — [fšetko]. Before a vowel v is a plain [v]: voda (water). au is one syllable, [aŭ], like ow in “now”: auto (car), autobus (bus). Never “ah-oo” in two syllables. Across words, a voiceless consonant before a vowel may sound voiced: brat a sestra (brother and sister). You only need to recognize this by ear. The checker tells the letters apart: “chliep”, “krú”, “fšetko” in writing are mistakes. Common mistakes: • × “chliep” in writing — write chlieb. • × [f] at the end of krv — it's a short u, [ŭ]. • × au in two syllables, “ah-OO-to” — au is one syllable.