Spanish Words That Start With Q (30 Essentials)
🇪🇸 Spanish · 30 cards · B1 · by Lucía Herrera
In Spanish the letter q only ever turns up as que or qui, and the u is silent: queso is "KEH-so", never "kweh-so". Get that one rule right and most of the pronunciation trouble disappears.
I open the deck with the workhorses — que, qué, quién, querer, quedar — because with these the accent mark changes the job of the word, not just the spelling, and that is where my students slip. Then come everyday nouns and adjectives (queso, quince, quieto, quejarse), and finally the words you meet in hospitals, offices and at birthday parties: quirófano, quiebra, quinceañera. Read every example out loud until the k sound feels automatic.
Flip through the cards, then switch to Quiz. Tap the play button on any row to hear it. The full table below is there to read, print or copy into your own flashcard app.
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All 30 cards
| # | Spanish | English | Example | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | que No accent as a conjunction or relative pronoun. Also forms comparisons: más alto que yo. | that, which, who; than | Dijo que llega mañana por la noche. He said that he arrives tomorrow night. | |
| 2 | qué Takes an accent in direct and indirect questions and in exclamations: ¡Qué frío hace! | what; how (in exclamations) | ¿Qué quieres tomar? What do you want to drink? | |
| 3 | quién Plural: quiénes. Unaccented 'quien' is the relative pronoun: la chica con quien hablé. | who, whom | ¿Quién llamó por teléfono? Who called on the phone? | |
| 4 | querer Irregular: quiero, quise, querré. Querer a alguien = to love someone; querer algo = to want it. | to want; to love | Te quiero mucho, abuela. I love you a lot, Grandma. | |
| 5 | quedar Quedar con alguien = to meet up (very common in Spain). Quedarse = to stay. | to be left, remain; to arrange to meet; to suit (clothes) | Solo quedan dos entradas. There are only two tickets left. | |
| 6 | quizás Also written quizá, same meaning. Subjunctive after it stresses doubt (quizás llueva); the indicative is also heard (quizás llueve). | maybe, perhaps | Quizás llueva por la tarde. Maybe it will rain in the afternoon. | |
| 7 | quitar Quitarse = to take off (clothes): quítate los zapatos. | to take away, remove, clear | Quita los platos de la mesa, por favor. Clear the plates off the table, please. | |
| 8 | queso Masculine: el queso. Pronounced 'KEH-so'; the u is silent. | cheese | Compra pan y queso para la cena. Buy bread and cheese for dinner. | |
| 9 | quince Invariable. The ordinal is decimoquinto. In Latin America 'los quince' also means a girl's fifteenth-birthday party. | fifteen | Tengo quince minutos libres antes de la clase. I have fifteen free minutes before class. | |
| 10 | quinientos Agrees in gender: quinientas páginas. Irregular form — never 'cincocientos'. | five hundred | El vuelo nos costó quinientos euros. The flight cost us five hundred euros. | |
| 11 | quinto Feminine quinta. Also a noun meaning 'a fifth': un quinto de la población. | fifth | Vivo en el quinto piso, sin ascensor. I live on the fifth floor, with no lift. | |
| 12 | quemar Quemarse = to get burned, and colloquially to burn out from overwork. | to burn | Se me quemó el arroz otra vez. I burned the rice again. | |
| 13 | querido Opens letters: Querida Ana. As a noun, el querido / la querida means a lover or mistress — careful with it. | dear, beloved | Es un amigo muy querido de la familia. He is a much-loved friend of the family. | |
| 14 | quieto False friend: 'quiet' as in silent is callado or silencioso. Used with estar, not ser. | still, motionless | Quédate quieto un momento, que te corto el pelo. Hold still a second, I'm cutting your hair. | |
| 15 | quejarse Always reflexive, and what you complain about takes de: quejarse de algo. | to complain | Siempre se queja del tráfico. He always complains about the traffic. | |
| 16 | química Feminine. Also personal chemistry: hay buena química entre ellos. Un químico = a chemist (the scientist); a pharmacist is un farmacéutico. | chemistry | Suspendí el examen de química. I failed the chemistry exam. | |
| 17 | quiosco Masculine. The spelling kiosco is also correct and very common. | newsstand, kiosk | Compré el periódico en el quiosco de la esquina. I bought the newspaper at the kiosk on the corner. | |
| 18 | quehacer Masculine, usually plural. Literally 'what to do'; in Mexico 'el quehacer' alone means housework. | chore, task | Los quehaceres de la casa me llevan toda la mañana. The housework takes me all morning. | |
| 19 | quebrar Stem-changing e > ie: quiebra, quiebran. For breaking objects, romper is far more common. | to go bankrupt; to break, snap | La empresa quebró el año pasado. The company went bankrupt last year. | |
| 20 | quemadura Feminine. Quemadura de sol = sunburn. | burn (injury) | Me hice una quemadura en el brazo con el horno. I burned my arm on the oven. | |
| 21 | quincena Feminine. In Mexico 'la quincena' usually means the pay you get on the 15th and at the end of the month. | two-week period, fortnight; fortnightly pay | Me pagan cada quincena. I get paid every two weeks. | |
| 22 | quinceañera Feminine. A big tradition in Mexico and much of Latin America; not a custom in Spain. | girl turning fifteen; her fifteenth-birthday party | La quinceañera bailó el vals con su padre. The birthday girl danced the waltz with her father. | |
| 23 | quirófano Masculine. Standard in Spain; in much of Latin America you also hear sala de operaciones. | operating room, operating theatre | Lo llevaron al quirófano de urgencia. They rushed him into the operating room. | |
| 24 | quirúrgico The adjective that goes with cirugía (surgery) — note the c > qu spelling change. | surgical | Necesita una intervención quirúrgica sencilla. He needs a simple surgical procedure. | |
| 25 | quiste Masculine: un quiste pequeño. | cyst | El médico dice que es un quiste benigno. The doctor says it's a benign cyst. | |
| 26 | quilate Masculine. Used both for gold purity and for the weight of gemstones. | carat | El anillo es de oro de dieciocho quilates. The ring is eighteen-carat gold. | |
| 27 | quiebra Feminine. Declararse en quiebra = to file for bankruptcy. | bankruptcy | La tienda de la esquina está en quiebra. The shop on the corner has gone bankrupt. | |
| 28 | quisquilloso Colloquial and mildly critical. Feminine quisquillosa. Can also mean easily offended. | fussy, picky; touchy | No seas tan quisquilloso con la comida. Don't be so fussy about your food. | |
| 29 | quietud Feminine and fairly literary; in everyday speech people say tranquilidad or calma. | stillness, calm | Me gusta la quietud del amanecer en el pueblo. I love the stillness of dawn in the village. | |
| 30 | quienquiera Formal; plural quienesquiera. In conversation most people say 'quien sea' or 'el que sea'. | whoever | Quienquiera que llame, di que no estoy. Whoever calls, say I'm not in. |
Native Spanish speaker from Valencia, now in Mexico City. I tutor Spanish online and keep a notebook of the words my students trip over. Every deck here comes from that notebook.
Questions about this deck
- Why are there so few Spanish words that start with Q?
- Because q only survives in the combinations que and qui, so that part of the dictionary is tiny. Sounds written qua, que, quo in English are spelled with c or cu in Spanish: cuando, cuota, cuestión, cuatro. That is why 'quality' is calidad, 'quantity' is cantidad and 'question' is pregunta or cuestión.
- Is the u in Spanish qu- words pronounced?
- No. In que and qui the u is silent and qu sounds like a plain k: queso is 'KEH-so', quiero is 'KYEH-ro', quince is 'KEEN-se' in Latin America and 'KEEN-the' in most of Spain. The only words with an audible u after q are Latin borrowings such as quórum and quásar, now usually respelled cuórum and cuásar.
- When does que take an accent?
- Qué with an accent is interrogative or exclamatory, including in indirect questions: ¿Qué hora es?, ¡Qué calor!, No sé qué decir. Que without an accent is the conjunction 'that' and the relative pronoun 'which, who, that': Creo que sí; el libro que compré. The same contrast applies to quién/quien and cuánto/cuanto.
- Does querer mean 'to want' or 'to love'?
- Both, and the structure tells you which. Querer + noun or infinitive means to want: quiero un café, quiero salir. Querer a + person means to love: quiero a mi hermana, te quiero. Te quiero is warm and used with family, friends and partners; te amo is stronger and more romantic, and is far more frequent in Latin America than in Spain.
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