Czech pronunciation: H/CH

Is Czech pronunciation a problem for you? I offer you another short training. Today´s topic: consonants H and CH.

H

Sound H is produced in the larynx. Your lips are in a neutral position, a bit open, the tongue is quiet. H is a voiced consonant, your vocal cords vibrate – put your hand on your throat and check: you feel a vibration.

Words – training

Practice pronunciation of H. Listen to these words and repeat.

 Audio

a) hú, hú, hú, hú

b) ha, he, hi, ho, hu, hou – hahaha, hehehe, hihihi, hohoho, huhuhu

c) hádá, Hana, hází, hala, hýbe, hýká, hodí, husa, hučí, hůl, houba

d) noha, váha, váhá, tíha

e) pohled, výhled, jehla, táhne

f) hrst, hrká, hrdlo, hrbatý, hrneček, hrad

g) zahrada, ohrada, zahraje, vyhrál, Bělohrad

Sentence – training

Listen to this sentence and repeat. Ten times, twenty times… So many times until you pronounce the same way as the audio voice.

 Audio

Hravý hroch Hubert hrozně hrabal na hromadě harampádí.

(Playful hippopotamus Hubert horribly burrowed in a pile of junk.)

CH

Sound CH is produced back in your palate. Your tongue goes down behind down front teeth. Airflow is sharper than during H pronunciation. Try it: Put your hand in front of your mouth and pronounce H and CH in turns. You feel another air power. CH is an unvoiced consonant, your vocal cords don´t vibrate.

Words – training

Practice pronunciation of CH. Listen to these words and repeat.

Audio

a) cha cha cha, che che che, chi chi chi, cho cho cho, chu chu chu, chou

b) chata, chápe, chyba, chodí, chová, chudý, chůva

c) máchá, mícha, mouchy, ucho

d) buchta, obchod, plachta, lechtá

e) mech, dech, duch

f) chrpa, chrápe, chrám, chrání, chrastítko, chrochtá

g) vichr, machr, ochrana, schránka, sychravý

Sentence – training

Listen to this sentence and repeat. Ten times, twenty times… So many times until you pronounce the same way as the audio voice.

 Audio

Chlupatý pes pana Máchy chytil blechu.

(Mr. Mácha´s hairy dog got a flea.)

And now compare H and CH pronunciation.

Listen and repeat:

 Audio

hodí – chodí, hýbá – chyba, míhá – míchá, dýha – dýchá, vymáhá – vymáchá

Czech pronunciation: How to practice more?

• Here you can find other sentences and audio. Listen and repeat.
• If you use Lída Holá books, here you can find all audio. Listen and repeat. E.g. Čeština expres 1.
• Read also the first (length mark and accent), second (hook mark, e/ě), third (i/y), fourth (h/ch), fifth (c/č), sixth (s/š), seventh (ř), and eighth (r) part of our „pronunciation serial“.

Czech version of this article.

26th March 2019