The audio here is generated speech. A recorded human voice for this lesson is on the way.
The sound
The Y sound, as in "yes", is a quick glide. Your tongue starts high and close to the roof of your mouth, where it sits for "ee", and slides into the next vowel. Nothing touches: the tongue comes close, then moves away. Say "ee-es" very fast and you have "yes".
Learners often swap Y and J, saying "jes" for "yes" or "jellow" for "yellow". The difference is contact: J starts with the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, Y never touches. The Y sound also hides in words spelled with U: "use", "music", "cute" all start their vowel with a Y glide.
Hear the difference
Tap each word. Then test your ear.
Y: tongue close to the roof, never touching. J: tongue presses first.
Say it out loud
Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.
"Use" and "usual" start with a Y glide.
Practice · 3 min
Repeat each sentence. Start every Y word from a quick "ee" glide. Record the second sentence and check that "yogurt" and "yesterday" have no J sound at the start.
Say it today
Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.