Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "joven" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce joven in Spanish?

joven is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈxo.βen/. It means “young.” HOH-behn — the j is a throaty h and the v is a soft b, with the stress up front.

HOH-behn — the j is a throaty h and the v is a soft b, with the stress up front.

joven /ˈxo.βen/

Two syllables, JO-ven, with the weight on the first — the word ends in n, and the default rule sends stress to the second-to-last syllable, so no accent is needed. The plural is where it gets interesting: "jóvenes" adds a syllable, which would push the beat off JO, so an accent appears to hold it in place.

Listen: joven

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Sound it out

j A back-of-the-mouth rasp, like the ch in Scottish "loch". The tongue arches toward the soft palate and the air scrapes past. This is the single most misread letter in Spanish for English speakers.

o A pure "oh" carrying the stress, held in one position with no glide.

ven The v is a b, softened because it sits between vowels, and the e is a short "eh" closed by a released n.

Hear it in a sentence

Mi profesor es muy joven.

My teacher is very young.

Listen: Mi profesor es muy joven.

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"Mi profesor es muy joven" uses ser because youth is treated as a quality rather than a passing state. "Profesor" ends in r, so the beat falls on the last syllable, pro-fe-SOR, with no accent needed. Note that "joven" has one form for both genders — a female teacher would also be "joven".

Where English speakers slip

English speakers say "JOH-ven" with a proper English j, which turns a common word into something no Spanish speaker would recognise instantly. Move it to the throat. The v then gets buzzed with the teeth when it should be a soft b. And in writing, forgetting the accent on the plural — "jovenes" instead of "jóvenes" — shifts the stress to the wrong syllable entirely.