IPA reference · consonant
ʒ — voiced postalveolar fricative
The voiced counterpart of /ʃ/.
Also called: ezh, zh sound
How to make the voiced postalveolar fricative
Same posture as /ʃ/, with voicing.
English reference points: measure, vision, beige. If you speak English natively you already produce this sound — the work is recognising it and placing it where the target language wants it.
Languages that use it
| Language | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| French | jour | day |
| Portuguese | já | already |
Sounds it gets confused with
Most pronunciation errors are not random — they are a substitution of the nearest sound the speaker already owns. These are the usual substitutions for ʒ, and each one is a minimal-pair drill waiting to happen.
English speakers add a stop onset, turning French *je* into "dzhe".
What this means for learners
English has /ʒ/ only medially and finally, never word-initially — which is exactly where French puts it, so *je*, *jour*, *jamais* all need practice.
Teaching this sound
Describing a sound in words gets a student roughly half the way there. The other half is hearing it produced correctly, immediately after producing it incorrectly, with both versions available to replay. That is the argument for recording during the lesson rather than after it: the student leaves with your model of ʒ attached to the actual words they got wrong, not to an abstract chart.
Frequently asked questions
What sound does the IPA symbol ʒ make?
ʒ is the voiced postalveolar fricative. The voiced counterpart of /ʃ/. In English you can hear it in: measure, vision, beige.
How do you pronounce ʒ?
Same posture as /ʃ/, with voicing.
Which languages have the voiced postalveolar fricative?
Among the languages covered here: French (jour, “day”); Portuguese (já, “already”).
What is the difference between ʒ and dʒ?
English speakers add a stop onset, turning French *je* into "dzhe".