LingoflyC c — ce
«ce» is a consonant of the Spanish script, read as “k, and s before e and i”. K before a, o, u; 's' before e and i. In Spain that 's' is interdental, like the English th in 'think'. For example, in the word “casa” — house. The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. Hence qu: to get 'keh' and 'kee' you write que and qui — otherwise it would read 'seh', 'see'.
In short
| Character | C c |
| Name | ce |
| Sound | k, and s before e and i |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 3rd of 30: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are b and d, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
K before a, o, u; 's' before e and i. In Spain that 's' is interdental, like the English th in 'think'
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- casahouse
The character in the “letters that mislead” group
This is where Spanish departs most sharply from what an English reader expects — and where its most frequent beginner mistakes live.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «ce» it is “k, and s before e and i”, as in the word “casa”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 27 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Spanish character c read?
As “k, and s before e and i” — it is a consonant of the Spanish script. K before a, o, u; 's' before e and i. In Spain that 's' is interdental, like the English th in 'think'. For example, in the word “casa” — house.
What is the letter c called?
Ce. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Spanish script: it is called “ce” and reads as “k, and s before e and i”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.