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His Heart Beats Fast — When the Letter H Disappears Twice

I remember walking back to school once.

I'd forgotten my homework. Had to go back and get it. The problem was, I'd been kind of bad that day. Not terrible. Just enough that I didn't want to see my teacher.

My heart was racing. My stomach felt acidic.

You know that feeling. Walking toward a door you don't want to open. Toward a person you don't want to face.

David's feeling it right now.

He's standing at her apartment. Six days ago, she was his girlfriend. Now he's just some guy who left his phone at her place and couldn't face her for a whole day.

His hand is raised. He's about to knock.

What this article covers: When native speakers say "his," the H often disappears — especially in the middle of a sentence. This article explains why position matters, using a simple breathing principle. You'll learn to hear the pattern and reproduce it through shadowing.

Here's the sentence from today's episode:

"His heart beats fast as he raises his hand to knock."

If you heard "is art" and "is and," you heard it right.

Three H sounds. All three can disappear.

The Strong Beats Carry the Meaning

Before we chase disappearing sounds, find the heartbeat of the sentence.

English has rhythm. Every sentence has strong beats and weak beats.

This sentence has five strong beats:

HEART. FAST. RAISES. HAND. KNOCK.

Those are the big words. If you link them together — heart, fast, raises, hand, knock — you get the skeleton of the meaning. Something about a heart, going fast, raising a hand, knocking.

The weak words fill in the relationships. His, as, he, to. They tell you whose heart, what he's raising, what he's knocking on.

But the strong beats carry the weight.

Find those first. Then fill in the gaps.

Why Does the H Disappear?

Here's what happens in this sentence:

What's Written What You Hear
His heart is art
as he raises as-ee raises
his hand is and

Three H sounds. All three can vanish.

But here's something interesting. The first "his" — at the very beginning — might keep its H. Some native speakers will say "His heart." Others will say "is art."

Both are correct.

But in the middle of the sentence? "His hand" almost always becomes "is and."

Why does position matter?

It comes down to breathing.

When "his" comes at the beginning of a sentence, there's no connecting sound before it. You're starting fresh. Your mouth is already prepared. Saying the H is easy.

But when "his" comes in the middle of a sentence, you've been breathing out for whatever came before. To make an H sound, you'd have to breathe out again — push air through your throat to create that H.

That's extra work.

So the H drops. Your mouth takes the easier path.

Same thing happens with "he" in the middle: "as he raises" becomes "as-ee raises." The H requires a fresh push of air. In flowing speech, it vanishes.

This H-dropping pattern shows up constantly in English. In an earlier episode, "His Boss Needs to Reach Him," four different H sounds disappear in one sentence. Once you recognize this pattern, you'll hear it everywhere.

The Shadowing Moment

Here's something I've noticed with my students.

When I have them do listen-and-repeat — I say a phrase containing "his," they repeat it — they often skip "his" entirely. They don't hear "his" and they say only "heart." They're reading from their mental image of the word, not from the actual sound.

But when I have them shadow me — their voice on top of my voice, matching my exact sounds — something different happens.

They can't skip the sound. They have to make the same sounds I'm making.

So they end up saying "is art." They feel it in their mouth.

Usually it takes three to five shadows. Then I see this surprised, happy look on their face. They got it. They felt the difference between what they expected and what actually comes out of a native speaker's mouth.

That moment is why shadowing works.

Your mouth teaches your ears what to expect.

The Stop T in "Heart Beats"

Listen to "heart beats."

Do you hear a T?

Not really. The T is there, but it doesn't release.

Here's what happens: Your tongue goes up to the position for T — the tip touches the roof of your mouth, right behind your teeth. But it doesn't come down to release the sound.

The air stops at the top of your mouth. Then your tongue moves directly into the B of "beats."

Heart-beats. No "tuh" sound. Just a stop.

This is called a stop T. It happens when T comes before another consonant. Your mouth prepares for the T but doesn't finish it.

Students often try to pronounce a clear T: "heart-uh beats." That sounds choppy. Unnatural.

The stop T keeps the rhythm flowing.

Why Twenty Repetitions?

I always tell my students: shadow twenty times.

Why twenty?

Because everyone needs a different number to get it. Some students click after five repetitions. Some need fifteen. Some need more.

If I say five repetitions, about seventy percent of students won't get enough practice. They'll be close but not solid.

If I say ten, maybe thirty percent still won't get enough.

Twenty is the safe number. It covers everybody. And for the students who got it earlier? They get overlearning. They've practiced it so well they can't forget it.

That's not a bad outcome.

Twenty repetitions takes less than a minute. It's a small investment for permanent improvement.

Go to my intensive listening practice page and do your twenty reps.

David's About to Knock

So here we are.

David's hand is raised. His heart is pounding. His stomach probably feels acidic, just like mine did walking back to that classroom.

He's about to knock.

Next week: "She opens the door."

What does her face look like when she sees him? Is she angry? Hurt? Relieved?

Six weeks of avoiding this moment. And now he's here.

Come back next week to find out what happens.

But first — go practice this sentence. Twenty shadows. Train your ear to hear those vanishing H sounds.

Start practicing "His heart beats fast as he raises his hand to knock" →

Key Takeaways

  • Three H sounds can disappear — "his heart," "as he," and "his hand" all lose their H in natural speech
  • Position determines the H — beginning of sentence, H may stay; middle of sentence, H usually drops
  • Breathing explains why — mid-sentence H requires extra air; your mouth takes the easier path
  • Shadowing reveals the truth — listen-and-repeat misses it; shadowing forces you to make the actual sounds
  • Stop T keeps rhythm flowing — tongue goes up for T but doesn't release; "heart beats" has no "tuh"
  • Twenty repetitions is the safe number — covers weaker learners, gives stronger learners overlearning

Common Questions

Why does the H disappear in "his" and "he"? When these words come in the middle of a sentence, you've been breathing out for whatever came before. Making an H requires a fresh push of air. In flowing speech, your mouth skips that extra effort. The H vanishes.

Is it wrong to pronounce the H? Not wrong — just less natural. Native speakers drop the H in the middle of sentences without thinking about it. If you pronounce every H clearly, you'll sound careful and formal. Dropping the H sounds relaxed and fluent. But here's the real benefit of practicing the dropped H: when you practice it, your brain builds a category for this sound. Once that category exists, you're much more likely to hear and recognize the word when other people say it without the H.

What's a stop T? A stop T happens when your tongue goes to the T position but doesn't release. The air stops at the roof of your mouth. In "heart beats," there's no "tuh" sound — just a stop before the B. This keeps the rhythm smooth.

Why do you recommend shadowing instead of listen-and-repeat? Listen-and-repeat lets you substitute what you expect to hear. You might say "his" with a clear H because that's how you imagine the word. Shadowing forces you to match the actual sounds. Your voice on top of the speaker's voice. No substitutions possible.

Follow David's Story

This is week six of the David's Phone series.

If you missed earlier episodes:

Six more sentences to go. Next week, she finally opens the door.

Start practicing "His heart beats fast as he raises his hand to knock" →