How do I know when words are written with “z” or with “c”?

In Spanish, there is always a constant rule to know whether to write words with ‘z’ or ‘c’:This only applies for the ’C’s and ‘Z’s that both phonetically sound like “th”. The rule is: za ce ci zo zu. You can apply these to any case since they don’t vary, for example, try saying these out loud and distinguishing their phonetical sound:Cecina (animal fat, usually pig)- here we can se how both the rules of “c” have been applied. Cebra (zebra the animal)- Cabeza (Head)- Zoológico (a zoo)

CS
Answered by Claudia S. Spanish tutor

2681 Views

See similar Spanish GCSE tutors

Related Spanish GCSE answers

All answers ▸

In order to be successful in your writing exam you will need to know a variety of tenses, do you know all the preterite tense regular endings for AR/ER/IR verbs.


After a trip to Spain you decided to write a travel article for your school magazine. What advice would you give to anyone who wants to go to Spain for a weekend break?


Read brief descriptions of all of the characters and use the table to align the description paragraph letter to the correct name.


¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre? Escribe un párrafo en español de 50 palabras.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning