An Hour or A Hour - Which One is Correct (2024)

vocabulary

Spelling and pronunciation do not always go hand-in-hand in English. The way a word is spelt does not always give us an indication of how it is pronounced. English has a lot of silent letters and it can be difficult to know which letters are silent and which are not. The pronunciation rule for choosing between the indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ relies on the pronunciation of the word that follows and not the spelling of the word that follows. Learning when to pronounce letters and when not to will help improve your English pronunciation skills.

An Hour

Based on spelling and not pronunciation, it may appear as though ‘a hour’ is the correct form, however, this is incorrect. The correct form is ‘an hour.’

What An Hour Means

An hour means one hour. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are indefinite articles so an hour refers to any hour. An hour is equal to 60 minutes and there are 24 hours in one day.

Why Do We Say An Hour?

The ‘h’ at the beginning of ‘hour’ is silent. If we look at the phonetic spelling of ‘hour’ /aʊr/, we can see that it begins with a vowel sound and not a consonant sound. All words that start with a vowel sound must be preceded by the indefinite article ‘an.’

Grammar Rules for An Hour

Grammatically, the indefinite article we use when a word begins with a vowel sound is ‘an.’ This is easy to identify in ‘an apple,’ ‘an umbrella,’ and ‘an elephant.’ However, there are instances when the written form of the word and the way it is pronounced are different and it’s less obvious which indefinite article precedes the word.

For example, some words that are spelled with a vowel in the beginning take ‘a,’ as in ‘a uniform’ and some words that are spelled with a consonant in the beginning take ‘an,’ as in ‘an hour.’ This is because ‘uniform’ starts with a consonant sound and ‘hour’ starts with a vowel sound in spoken English.

A Hour

‘A hour’ looks like the correct form when it is written down but it does not sound right when spoken. The written form must follow the spoken form and not vice versa. Knowing these rules will improve your English writing skills. This is true when we are deciding whether to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ with all words. Focus on the pronunciation of the words instead of the spelling of the words.

Is It Correct to Say A Hour

‘A hour’ is not correct. However, not all words that begin with ‘h’ follow this same rule. It all depends on the pronunciation of the word.

We say:

An honest man;

An hour;

A home;

A horse;

A house.

Some words, like ‘herb,’ are pronounced differently with different accents. Some English accents pronounce the ‘h’ sound so ‘a herb’ is correct. Other English accents drop the ‘h’ sound so ‘an herb’ is correct too.

Is It An Hour or A Hour

‘An hour’ is correct. We say ‘an hour’ because ‘hour’ is pronounced with a vowel sound in the beginning and the ‘h’ is silent. We also say ‘an honour’ and ‘a horrible movie’ because the ‘h’ is silent in ‘honour’ and voiced in ‘horrible.’

What is English Everyday

English-Everydayis an English course withlive lessonsfor English learners whowant to improve their Englishwith native speakers, professional teachers, and students from around the world.

You havelive lessonswhere you can joinevery day. You canreview all record lessons. There is a calendar of scheduled lessons so you can see when lessons are and at what time you can join.

In the English-Everyday program, you havesupport and also you have student chat where you can speak with other students from all around the world. You can look at our feedback page so that you can know from which countries our students are. Before you join our program, we strongly recommend you sign up for our free seminar with Kris Amerikos, where you can learn:

• What goals you need to have to get better results
• How to become fluent in English very quickly
• What you need to do to have perfect pronunciation
• The 3 biggest mistakes you need to avoid
• Which free resources will help you learn English
• The best resource to use to improve your speaking

JOIN LIVE SPEAKING LESSONS TODAY!

OUR COURSES

English courses that get results.

Individual courses, group courses, professional courses, intensive courses, and more.

English-Everyday

OnlineEnglishClasses

• SPEAKLIVE face-to-face with a native teacher every day.
• Master pronunciation byregular speaking practice with partners.
• Topics that will help you in real life.
• Speak and BE UNDERSTOOD by people around the world.
• BONUS: 24/7 live room
• BONUS:24/7 group chat (like WhatsApp)
• BONUS: 24/7 news feed (like Facebook)
• SUPER BONUS: Challenges and community

Learn more about English-Everyday

Level Up Mastermind

How To Think InEnglish

✅TwoMastermind Calls Per Week:We run two learning calls per week that are approximately 1 hour each.

✅Spotlight Seat Calls:The spotlight seats are where you can bring any problem, question, presentation, email, or other problem to the table and we'll help you solve it.

✅Theory Calls:The theory calls are where we go in depth about everything related to how to think to improve your English and we break it down into the details of how things work, why they work, and how you can use it yourself by giving you a deeper understanding.

✅Level Up Slack:This is the soul of Level Up. We have a private workspace where you can get help with anything in between the calls and also connect with everyone else.

✅Level Up Community:A private wall for posts and a private group chat for Level Up members only.

✅Everything inside English-Everyday:daily live speaking lessons, 24/7 live room, group chat.

Learn more about Level Up

Individual, Private Lessons

Personalized Focus on YourEnglishNeeds

• Each lesson is 60 minutes long.
• Individual communication
• Personal feedback and error correction
• Work on presentation, emails, work projects, or personal goals.
• More practice, faster results
• Every lesson is focused on your specific needs.
• Choose the best date and time for you.

Learn more about 1:1 lessons

English courses that get results.

Individual courses, group courses, professional courses, intensive courses, and more.

English-Everyday

OnlineEnglishClasses

• SPEAKLIVE face-to-face with a native teacher every day.
• Master pronunciation byregular speaking practice with partners.
• Topics that will help you in real life.
• Speak and BE UNDERSTOOD by people around the world.
• BONUS: 24/7 live room
• BONUS:24/7 group chat (like WhatsApp)
• BONUS: 24/7 news feed (like Facebook)
• SUPER BONUS: Challenges and community

Learn more about English-Everyday

Level Up Mastermind

How To Think InEnglish

✅TwoMastermind Calls Per Week:We run two learning calls per week that are approximately 1 hour each.

✅Spotlight Seat Calls:The spotlight seats are where you can bring any problem, question, presentation, email, or other problem to the table and we'll help you solve it.

✅Theory Calls:The theory calls are where we go in depth about everything related to how to think to improve your English and we break it down into the details of how things work, why they work, and how you can use it yourself by giving you a deeper understanding.

✅Level Up Slack:This is the soul of Level Up. We have a private workspace where you can get help with anything in between the calls and also connect with everyone else.

✅Level Up Community:A private wall for posts and a private group chat for Level Up members only.

✅Everything inside English-Everyday:daily live speaking lessons, 24/7 live room, group chat.

Learn more about Level Up

Individual, Private Lessons

Personalized Focus on YourEnglishNeeds

• Each lesson is 60 minutes long.
• Individual communication
• Personal feedback and error correction
• Work on presentation, emails, work projects, or personal goals.
• More practice, faster results
• Every lesson is focused on your specific needs.
• Choose the best date and time for you.

Learn more about 1:1 lessons

Just in case you missed anything.

Here are a few frequently asked questions about our online English courses.

The number one English program on the planet.

The number one English program on the planet.

Terms and conditions

Privacy policy

Data protection

Disclaimer