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Ooh or You?

When is there a consonant [j] before the vowel [uː] as in GOOSE?

Not spelled with an o

There is never a [j] when the vowel is spelled:

• oo
• ou
  (except the placename Houston)
• o_e

Not when spelled ui

• ui
  (except nuisance and pursuit)

When spelled with e & u/w

There is always a [j] when the vowel is spelled:

• ew
  For example:
  • ewe (female sheep), few, hew, Kew, mew, new, pew, yew, skew, spew, phew, whew, newt (amphibian)
  • curfew, Matthew, nephew, pewter (metal), skewer,
• eu
  For example:
  • feud, neuter, Euston, neutron, pneumatic
• ue (except fondue)
  For example:
  • cue, hue
  • venue, rescue, fuel, pursue, argue, muesli
  • continue, avenue, revenue, barbecue
• u_e (except chute, duvet, dude, recuperate, Uber, vuvuzela)
  For example:
  • use, huge, nude, cute, mute, cube
  • future, refuse, consume, amuse, accuse
  • computer, museum, funeral, refuses, refugee
  • distributed, attributed, prosecuted, autoimmune, undisputed



Except following r or l

Never following r:
• rude
Never following r or l after a consonant sound:
• blue, flute, sleuth
• fruit,
Not in most l words, e.g.
• lunar, luminous, lubricant, lucrative, lucid, lute (instrument)
• allude, delude, elude, collude, interlude
• absolute, convoluted, dilute, pollute, salute, resolute
• -lution (solution, resolution, revolution, evolution, pollution, etc)
• illusion, delusion, collusion
(Note: Most of the above L words would have been pronounced with a [j] in older Received Pronunciation, and this may be the pronunciation listed in your dictionary. In contemporary Standard Southern British English, they are not.)

These words are the exceptions which still have a [j]:
• volume, prelude, evaluate, deluge, salutation, cellule, pilule
• value
• lewd, curlew (bird)

Unpredictable following [s] or [z]

The [j] has been dropped in words like:
• suit, suitable, suitor
• sewer
• pseudo-, masseuse
• sue, suet
• super, superior, supervise, suzerain, Sumerian
And foreign words like:
• Zulu, kudzu (Japanese plant), zucchini (Italian/US: =courgette), Zeus

But kept in words like:
• pursue, pursuit
• ensue
• capsule
• issue, tissue
  Note historic [s] pronounced [ʃ] in these words; this process optionally applies to the examples above
• hirsute (= hairy)
• mis-, dis-, trans- and other prefixes (misuse, disunity, Transunion, …)
• -sume (consume, assume, resume…)
• exude, exhume, exuberant
• Jesuit ([dʒɛzjuːɪt])