LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el jefe" in Spanish?
el HEH-feh — the j is a throaty h and both e vowels are short and identical.
Two syllables — JE-fe — with the stress on the first, as the rule for this ending requires for a vowel-final word. The feminine "jefa" keeps it. English borrowed this word as "chief" through French, which is why the two look so different despite sharing a root — the Spanish version kept the throaty j and the second syllable.
Listen: el jefe
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Hear it in a sentence
Mi jefe está de viaje.
My boss is away on a trip.
Listen: Mi jefe está de viaje.
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"Mi jefe está de viaje" uses "estar de viaje" as a set phrase for being away travelling. "Viaje" starts with a v as a b sound and contains the same throaty j as "jefe" — two j sounds in a five-word sentence, which makes it a compact drill.
Where English speakers slip
Read the j as an English j and you get "JEH-feh", the standard error with this letter. Pull it to the back of the throat. The final e then gets dropped, turning two syllables into one. And the English borrowing "jefe", widely used in American slang, is usually pronounced with an h that is too light — Spanish makes it a genuine rasp.