The letter C can
make three different sounds in French. On its own it can be either soft (‘s’)
or hard (‘k’). The vowel that follows can help you decide which it is, but
there are always exceptions. In general, a c
followed by an e, i, or y is soft. A c followed
by a, o, or u is hard. When a c has that funny little thing that
looks like an S under it (called a cédille)
it is always soft. You’ll see in our words with c-cédille that those c’s would normally be hard, but the cédille breaks the
rule. This is a lot to remember, so I
haven’t shared all this with the kids, they just know that ç makes ‘s’.
The third sound that c
can make, when followed by h, is ‘ch’ - sounds like the English ‘sh’.
ça, garçon, glaçon, le chat, le chien, le cochon
Bonus words: la vache, le cheval