220+ Spanish Words That Start with J (with Audio)

Unlike the hard “jay” sound in English, “j” in Spanish is more like a hard “ch” sound—like the “ch” in “Loch Ness monster.”

Don’t worry if you don’t quite get it: The letter j is one of the least frequently used letters in the Spanish language. It only appears in about 0.5% of Spanish words!

It was also one of the last letters to be added to the Spanish alphabet. You may have heard the stereotypical Spanish accent pronunciation of words like “yellow” as “Jyellow”—that’s in part from the fact that all j sounds were represented by the letter I until J was put into use in the 18th century.

There are some words that start with J in Spanish, but most of them are borrowed from another language—usually Arabic. And yet, the letter J is often used for traditional Spanish names like Juan, José and Julia.

Read on to learn over 220 words in the Spanish language that start with the letter J!

Contents

• Spanish Nouns That Start with J
• Spanish Verbs That Start with J
• Spanish Adjectives That Start with J
• Spanish Adverbs That Start with J
• Common Spanish Names That Start with J
• Spanish J-Words Quiz: Test Yourself!
• And One More Thing…

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Spanish Nouns That Start with J

For more essential nouns, check out this post:

Spanish Verbs That Start with J

You can see more about verbs and common ones you should know here:

Spanish Adjectives That Start with J

Want to learn more about Spanish adjectives? Click here:

Spanish Adverbs That Start with J

Learn everything you need to know about Spanish adverbs here:

Common Spanish Names That Start with J

• Jaime
• Jairo
• Javier
• Javiera
• Jazmín
• Jerónimo
• Jésica
• Jesús
• Jimena
• Joaquín
• Joaquína
• Joel
• Jonás
• Jonathan
• Jorge
• José
• Josefa
• Juan
• Juan José
• Juan Pablo
• Juana
• Juanito / Juanita
• Julia
• Julián
• Julio

Spanish J-Words Quiz: Test Yourself!

I hope this post has given you a new appreciation for one of the least popular letters in the Spanish language. You can find these words in contextual use through the videos on FluentU. That way, you’ll know how to actually use them in conversation.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

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Now go out there and use these Spanish words that begin with J!

And One More Thing…

If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.

Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.

FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:

FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.

Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.

The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)