Haa
The regular /h/. Not the pharyngeal one.
Sound
This haa is /h/, a voiceless glottal fricative — exactly the same sound as English h in hat, hello, house. The vocal cords are open and there is a brief puff of air; the constriction is at the glottis, the very front of the throat (well above where the pharyngeals live). Pronouncing it as you would in English is correct.
Crucially, this is not the pharyngeal Haa (ح), which is much further back and much harder for English speakers. The two letters look completely different — different shapes, different positions in the alphabet — but their transliterations can blur together for learners. The simple rule: if the transliteration scheme writes a small h, this letter (ه) is meant; a capital H means the pharyngeal one (ح).
Haa also appears as the third-person masculine singular pronoun suffix -hu / -h (ـه, "his / him / it"), so it is one of the most common letters at the end of words.
Forms
Haa is possibly the most visually variable letter in the alphabet: its four positional forms look quite different from one another. The medial form in particular — a small curved figure-eight or sigma-like shape sitting on the line — bears almost no obvious resemblance to the open round isolated form.
Connecting behavior
Haa connects on both sides.
Easy to confuse with
Two main lookalikes:
- Taa marbuuTa (ة). The feminine ending is written like haa with two dots added above. It only ever appears at the end of a word, and it is pronounced /a/ in pause and /at/ before a suffix or in a construct phrase. So a final round shape with two dots is taa marbuuTa; without dots, it is haa.
- Medial meem (ـمـ). In fast handwriting, the small curve of medial haa can resemble the small loop of medial meem. Context normally resolves it.
Examples in common words
A note on handwriting
The four positional forms are distinct enough that haa is one of the trickier letters for early learners — recognizing the medial form takes a while. The medial is a small "sigma-like" curve on the line, made in a single motion. The initial form looks like a small loop with an exit stroke heading left into the rest of the word. In Ruq'ah, the isolated form is often drawn quickly as a small open round shape, and the absence of dots above is the cue that it's haa rather than taa marbuuTa.