how to determine when to write “qu” or “c”

Question

Hi,Hope all are well and keeping well. I was wondering if you could help me to know how to determine when to write “qu” or “c”. Also, one of the hints included the word “spa” which had nothing to do with the text, and there wasn’t any mention of spa in that section (or anywhere else).  Thank you for your attention.Nicole

Answer

Hola Nicole,
how are you?
Re: qu and c
qu and c both make a [k] sound (casa, coche, curso, queso, qué...)
The c is used, to make that k sound, infront of vowels a, o, u
Then, if we want the k sound with vowels e and i, we need to write qu.
If we wrote a c in front of e and i, we would then have a different sound (not k but the English th sound).
Here are some words with the k sound:
California [kalifornia] = California
Comprar [komprar] = to buy
Cuna [kuna] = cot
but 
Querer [kerer] = to want
Quiero [kiero] = I want
Queso [keso] = cheese
Some words with the English th sound:
Cena [thena] = dinner
Cine [thine] = cinema
Cerdo [therdo] = pig
Cien [thien] = 100
 
Re: the word spa in the exercise, that was a type. I deleted.
Saludos
Inma