Do you say "An hotel"?

[Nighthogs]

Apparently this is correct, but the only time I've ever heard it used in this way is when it's said in a cockney accent (ie. "An 'otel"). When I say the word "hotel", the H isn't silent, so putting the word "an" before it just seems... Odd. I have an assuming south east accent, by the way.

Curious what everyone out there does!

YABU - I say "An hotel"
YANBU - I say "A hotel"

PS prize for most boring thread ever in 3...2...1...

But the h in hotel is only silent among a small minority of speakers. Have a look at the vast majority of dictionaries and their pronunciation guide shows an aspirated h.

An otel
An orse
An amburger

No probs

No. It sounds horribly pretentious.

Of course an H...anything is grammatically correct. The reality is, most of us say a hotel, a hospital.a horse.
I'm normally grammar police (in secret, I sit on my hands) but this doesn't bother me.

It's an hotel. How can it be a hotel?

I say a hotel but I believe that an hotel is correct. My friends and family would think I'd gone mad if I used an

I don’t but my grandmother used to say an ‘otel. It’s because it’s a French word with a silent h.

It’s ‘an hospital’ in a Farquar play IIRC. I always imagine it’s pronounced ‘an ‘ospital’ though.

Ha should have read the thread!

This is a rather archaic rule as explained by pp.

I edit and would edit ‘an hotel/historic’ etc to ‘a’.

@TheBigFatMermaid

Of course an H...anything is grammatically correct. The reality is, most of us say a hotel, a hospital.a horse. I'm normally grammar police (in secret, I sit on my hands) but this doesn't bother me.

An H anything really isn't grammatically correct - that's overthinking things.

Silent h - an heir. For Americans, an herb.
Sounded h - a hippo. A hug.
A tiny number of throwback words - a or an historian / hotel etc - an more likely if the speaker pronounces them without a h, but either is okay.

That's standard formal English.

Now if you don't usually pronounce the h in horse, hat, hippo, as many British English speakers don't - you'll probably use an there too when you speak, because you'll automatically apply the rule that puts an before a vowel. It's easier to say. But that's non-standard. You'd be corrected in formal writing for an hill etc - it certainly wouldn't be considered grammatically correct.

A hotel

It's not "an hotel".

An is used for words which start with a vowel sound

So "an hour" is correct. As it has a silent h. "An hotel" is not correct, it's "a hotel".

People started using it incorrectly assuming an went before word with an h but this is not correct. "An historian" became common usage following this so you can say "a historian" or "an historian". But if you notice when you say "an historian" you naturally want to drop the "h"

Please stop promoting the use of An in front of h words as it'll become the norm (and therefore become "correct") and it both sounds odd and is hard to say.

@HeyGirlHeyBoy

I would say a hotel but I know the correct way is an hotel, so if writing in school say, I'd have written it correctly.

It's not correct. You are correct. That's why it sounds right to say it!

Ooh.

I was coming to say it's defo not an hotel.

But it is an historic.

Whyyy?!

In English "an" comes before a vowel or a silent "h" followed by a vowel. So it's "an apple" but "a hat". Because "h" isn't a vowel. We use "an" for a silent "h" eg "hour" and "heir" where the pronunciation starts with a vowel.

'Otel, 'orse, 'ospital is when people aren't pronouncing words correctly. If they were writing a letter they wouldn't spelling those word like that (assuming they know how to spell). Most people say hotel, hospital, horse, pronouncing the "h". So it's "a hotel", "a hospital" and "a horse".

The BBC trying to be what they think is correct and sounding awful makes me cringe. They say "an historical event" whilst pronouncing the "h" and sounding like a knob in the process.

"H" is a vowel in French. But we're not French! I don't find that such a difficult thing to remember TBH.

That's my tuppence-worth anyway.

@Butwasitherdriveway

Ooh.

I was coming to say it's defo not an hotel.

But it is an historic.

Whyyy?!

I'd say because the kind of people who declare that This Is A(n) Historic Occasion - journalists, academics and politicians - worry more about being perceived to be wrong and judged than about standard use and guidance.

I've never said 'an hotel', always 'a hotel'.

I always pronounce the 'h'.

Is it because a and h are quite jarring?

The h is pronounced, its a hotel.

For words where the h is silent e.g. hour, its an hour.

But I am Irish and we do not pronounce hotels as 'otels. I've only heard someone say 'an 'otel in EastEnders where the accent is laid on thick.

Only when I’m doing my poirot impression

In primary schools, children are currently taught that it depends on the sound the word starts with. So consonant sound eg hill, hotel would be a ie a hill, a hotel. Vowel sound eg hour, heir (both long vowel sounds as opposed to short a/e/i/o/u) would be an ie an hour, an heir.

But hotel did originate from the French where the h isn't pronounced so sounds like otel. Hence the differences people are discussing.

mix of the two - I'd write A Hotel - but think I say "an 'otel"

Of course

I always assumed it was a lower middle-class thing, very Hyacinth Bucket, to say "an 'otel", mainly because it was what my late mum did when she put on her telephone voice.

She was rural working class, moved to the big city, and had three accents: 1) distinctive rural working-class accent, when speaking to her sisters. 2) acquired west London middle-class accent, soft Surrey-ish, used most naturally every day. 3) Naice accent, used when answering the phone, which is when things like "an 'otel" came out.