Pronuncian Lessons

Sound

English Pronunciation

Glide: y sound /j/

Listen to the y sound

How to pronounce the y sound

The tongue is extended forward, with the body of the tongue very near the tooth ridge. Because the tongue is so high, the jaw is kept relatively closed during the formation of this sound. The sides of the tongue touch the top, side teeth during the sound. The lips are held mostly closed, and they are neither made tense nor into a circular shape.

NOTE: This sound is similar to a long e in both sound and formation. However, the tongue is held closer to the tooth ridge during the y sound than the long e sound.

A good way to practice hearing and saying the y sound is to drill it with minimal pairs that do not contain that sound. Notice that the following words are identical, except that the first word begins with an y sound and the second does not.

year ear
yeast east
yearn earn

y sound illustration

Common y sound spellings

none, except when at the
end of word

spelling example audio other pronunciations for spelling

y yes
you
beyond

NOTE: The letter y is often a part of the vowel sound spelling oy, as in the words boy and joy). When it is part of that vowel spelling, the y sound merges with the vowel sound and is no longer considered a distinct y sound. Instead, it is a portion of the two-sound vowel oi sound.

When the letter y occurs after a consonant and at the end of a word, it is likely to be pronounced as a long e or long a sound (as in the words body and by).

Generally speaking, the letter y will only represent an actual y sound when it is:

at the beginning of a word (you)
the first letter after a prefix (beyond)

The y sound to link vowel sounds

The y sound (as well as the w sound) may be added into words or between them when there would otherwise be two adjacent vowels. The addition of the glide sound helps the speaker clearly articulate both vowel sounds. If the first vowel is a two-sound vowel that already ends with a slight y sound, the y sound will be more significant.