Q q — cu
«cu» is a consonant of Valencian, the “the Valencian Latin alphabet” script, read as “k, always with a silent u”. Always k, and the u after it is not sounded: què comes out "keh". For example, in the word “què” — what. The Valencian alphabet has 35 letters in total. If the u after q must be heard, a diaeresis is added: qüestió is "kuestio". It appears, for example, in the word “què tal?” — how's it going?
In short
| Character | Q q |
| Name | cu |
| Sound | k, always with a silent u |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 21st of 35: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are p and r, appears in 167 words of this site.
How it sounds
Always k, and the u after it is not sounded: què comes out "keh"
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.
- quèwhat
The character in the “letters that deceive” group
This is where Valencian parts ways with Spanish: j is a j as in "jam", s between vowels voices to z, and h is silent — yet hui and huit are not written without it.
- H hsilent, never pronouncedhac
- J ja voiced j, between "jam" and the s of "vision"jota
- G gg as in "go"; j before e and ige
- V va soft b, lips never presseduve baixa
- B bb as in "best"; p at the end of a wordbe alta
- C ck as in "kite"; s before e and ice
- S ss as in "sun"; z between vowelsesse
- Ss sss as in "sun", always voicelessessa doble
- R ra tapped r — and final -r is pronouncederre
- Rr rra long trilled rerra doble
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 «cu» it is “k, always with a silent u”, as in the word “què”), 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 — 35 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 Valencian character q read?
As “k, always with a silent u” — it is a consonant of the “the Valencian Latin alphabet” script. Always k, and the u after it is not sounded: què comes out "keh". For example, in the word “què” — what.
What is the letter q called?
Cu. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Valencian script: it is called “cu” and reads as “k, always with a silent u”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can q be confused with?
If the u after q must be heard, a diaeresis is added: qüestió is "kuestio". Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.