The Soft C

"Dee! What on Earth is going on in here?!" "Oh. I am trying to soften the letter C." "You don't soften C by warming it up! You do it by putting certain letters after it!" Let's learn what Kala means by explaining "The Soft C". You may already know that the letter C says /k/ as in cake, cot, click, or cucumber. But, the letter C can also make another, softer sound. It can say /s/ just like the letter S. But this doesn't happen all the time. It can happen when the letter C is followed by one of three specific letters. E, I, or Y. Let's say them with Kala! "CE, CI, CY /S/!" The E, I, and Y work their magic on C, softening the sound it makes in a word. Let’s look at some C E examples! C says /s/ in cent, face, and ice because the letter E comes right after the letter C in each of these words. If we read these words with the hard /k/ sound, that would be incorrect. For example, kent doesn't sound right. Now let’s look at some C-I examples! The first C in circus and circle says /s/ because the letter I comes right after the first C in each of these words. The second C in both of these words still makes the hard /k/ sound because other letters come after them. Finally, let’s look at C Y examples! C says /s/ in fancy and spicy because the letter Y comes right after C in both examples. Now that we know about the soft C, let's try sorting words with hard and soft C sounds. The first word is cement. Does this word have a hard or soft C? It has a soft C since it is followed by the letter E which makes it say /s/, cement. How about the word candy? Does this word have a hard or soft C? It has a hard C since it is not followed by an E, I, or Y. It is followed by an A, so it says /k/, candy. What about the last example, city? It has a soft C since it is followed by the letter I which makes it say /s/, city. Now that Dee knows the correct way to soften the letter C, let's remember! Today we learned about the soft C which makes the sound: /s/. C can say /s/ when an E, I, or a Y comes right after it in a word. When it is followed by any other letter, the C makes the harder /k/ sound. "Um, I will be right back, Kala." "Why? Where are you going?" “I need to get the letter G out of the hot tub.” "The hot tub?!” “Yes, I was trying to soften it too, but now I realize that’s probably not how you do it either.” "You are correct, Dee, but that's a whole other video!"