Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "lejos" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce lejos in Spanish?

lejos is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈle.xos/. It means “far.” LEH-hohs — the j is a throaty h, and the s at the end is not a plural marker.

LEH-hohs — the j is a throaty h, and the s at the end is not a plural marker.

lejos /ˈle.xos/

LE-jos: two syllables, and the first carries the beat. The word ends in s, so the default rule puts stress on the second-to-last syllable and no accent is needed. As an adverb it never changes form, which means the s is permanently there — a small but genuine oddity worth noticing.

Listen: lejos

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Sound it out

le A bright forward l and a short "eh" as in "bed", carrying the stress.

jos The j is a raspy back-of-the-mouth sound, like the ch in Scottish "loch". Then a pure "oh" and a hissing s. That final s is part of the word, not a plural ending — "lejo" does not exist.

Hear it in a sentence

El mercado no está lejos.

The market isn't far.

Listen: El mercado no está lejos.

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"El mercado no está lejos" uses estar for distance and puts "no" directly before the verb. "Mercado" contains a single tapped r and a soft d between vowels: mer-KA-tho. Spanish needs "lejos de" when naming what something is far from, but bare "lejos" works when the reference point is understood.

Where English speakers slip

Fix the j first: read as an English j it gives "LEH-jos", which is the standard beginner reading of this letter. Pull the sound to the back of the throat. The final s then gets voiced into a z by English reflex. And learners sometimes strip the s off, assuming it marks a plural — it does not, and "lejo" is not a word.