Hydrogen generally forms covalent compounds. Give reason.

Hydrogen has only one electron in its valence shell. So it can either lose that electron to form H⁺ or it can gain one electron to attain the noble gas configuration of Helium. So, it can form compounds with both covalent and ionic bonds.

But, the ionisation enthalpy of H is very high and electron gain enthalpy is slightly negative. Therefore, ionic bonds are not preferred, instead H likes to form compounds with covalent bonding.