“C” : One letter, two sounds.

Have you ever wondered why you say “cine” (thee neh) but “casa” (kah sah)?
Well, this is why.

The letter “c” behaves in a different way depending on which other letters are around. When there’s an “I” or an “e” after the “c”, it sounds like in “cine”, having a TH sound.
However, when there’s any other vowel (“a”, “o”, “u”) after the “c”, this sounds like in “casa”, with a K sound.

Let’s see some examples:
Cena (theh nah) - dinner
Encima (en thee mah) – on Ex: La lámpara está encima de la mesa – The lamp i son the table
Cortina (kor tee nah) – curtain
Cupido (kuh pee doh) – cupid
Caliente (kah ljien teh) - hot

You know what other letter sounds like TH? The letter “z”. We find it usually at the end of the word.

Some words with “z”:
Aprendiz (ah pren deeth) – apprentice
Zapato (zah pah toh) - shoe
Azulejo (ah thuh leh ho) – tile

And we’ve finished!
Check which other letter also has two sounds in Spanish: http://blog.vivatutor.uk/g-one-letter-two-sounds/