/j/ — the Y sound as in yes, you, year

The main spelling (~95%)

⟨y⟩

The letter ⟨y⟩ at the beginning of words is pronounced /j/.

yes you year yet young yellow

Y as a consonant: At the start of words, ⟨y⟩ makes the consonant sound /j/. In the middle or end of words, ⟨y⟩ is usually a vowel (like in happy or my).

Unusual spellings (~5%)

⟨i⟩ before vowels

In some words, ⟨i⟩ before another vowel is pronounced /j/ rather than as a separate syllable.

onion million opinion

Consonant I: In words like onion and million, the ⟨i⟩ in the middle acts like a consonant /j/, not a vowel. It glides into the following vowel.

⟨j⟩

In a few borrowed words, the letter ⟨j⟩ is pronounced /j/ (not /ʤ/).

hallelujah fjord

Rare pattern: In most English words, ⟨j⟩ makes the /ʤ/ sound (as in "jump"). But in hallelujah (from Hebrew) and fjord (from Norwegian), ⟨j⟩ makes /j/.

⟨ll⟩ in Spanish words

In Spanish loanwords and place names, ⟨ll⟩ is pronounced /j/.

jolla

Spanish LL: In Spanish, ⟨ll⟩ makes a /j/ sound (or similar). Place names like La Jolla keep this pronunciation.

The /j/ in /ju/ combinations

The /j/ sound often appears as part of the /ju/ combination (as in "use" and "cute"). In these cases, the /j/ is usually not written separately — it's part of how ⟨u⟩ or ⟨ew⟩ is pronounced.

See the /ju/ USE vowel page for more on this pattern.