Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "já" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

Q: How do you pronounce já in Portuguese (Brazil)?

já is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʒa/. It means “already.” ZHAH. Soft "zh" like the s in "measure," then a wide-open a.

ZHAH. Soft "zh" like the s in "measure," then a wide-open a.

já /ʒa/

A monosyllable, so placement isn't in question — the accent is specifying vowel quality and marking the word as a stressed unit rather than a clitic. Portuguese does this fairly often on short adverbs and pronouns, and "lá," "cá" and "há" all carry accents for related reasons.

Listen: já

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Sound it out

j The soft "zh" of "measure" or French "jour." Portuguese j is never the hard English j of "jam," and it's never the throaty Spanish j either — it sits between them, voiced and smooth.

á A wide-open a with the jaw down. The acute accent confirms that openness and marks the word as stressed, which matters because it distinguishes this from unstressed function words of similar shape.

Hear it in a sentence

Eu já comi.

I already ate.

Listen: Eu já comi.

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"Eu já comi" places the adverb between subject and verb, which is where Brazilians put it. "Comi" ends in a stressed i, and "já comi" links the open "ah" straight into the k — so the three words compress into something close to two beats in ordinary speech.

Where English speakers slip

The hard English j is the reliable error, giving "JAH." Make it "zh." Beyond that, the word's meaning range surprises learners: it covers already, now, right away and, in questions, ever — so "você já foi ao Brasil?" means have you ever been, not have you already been.