Language/French/Grammar/Form-of-the-article-with-adjectives-and-nouns-beginning-with-a-vowel-or-an-h
le and la are shortened to Y, and du and de la become de V if they immediately precede an adjective or noun beginning with a vowel:
tab1
They also behave in the same way when they immediately precede an adjective or noun beginning with a so-called 'silent h' or h muet. This is a written h which has no counterpart in the spoken language:
Tab2
There is also another set of adjectives and nouns beginning with a written h which do have a counterpart in the spoken language. This is misleadingly called an 'aspirate h' or h aspiré. It is misleading because there is no 'h' sound in spoken French. Rather, words which begin with an 'aspirate h' in written French also happen to block reduction of the article to /' or de V in spoken French:
Tab3
There is no easy way to distinguish adjectives and nouns which begin with a silent h from those which begin with an aspirate h. Some cases are idiosyncratic. For example, héros 'hero' does not allow contraction of the article: le héros; but héroïne 'heroine or heroin' and héroïsme 'heroism' do: l'héroïne, l'héroïsme.
Many dictionaries indicate an aspirate h by putting ['] at the beginning of the phonetic transcription of the word.
For example:
Tab4
The final consonant of les and des is pronounced [z] when they immediately precede an adjective or a noun beginning with a vowel or a silent h:
Tab5
The final n of un is pronounced when un immediately precedes an adjective or
noun beginning with a vowel or silent h, but not otherwise:
NB: Verbs beginning with an h in the written language also divide into those which require contraction of je, me, le, la, ne, etc., and those which do not:
- J'habite Londres
I live in London
- Je l'héberge
I am letting him stay with me
- Je hais Londres
I hate London
- Je la heurte dans son orgueil
I hurt her pride