Palabra Lexi · common words in Spanish

How to say "cheese" in Spanish

"Cheese" in Spanish is queso, pronounced KEH-soh (stress on the syllable in capitals). It is a masculine noun (el queso, plural los quesos).

Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The speaker button uses your browser's built-in Spanish voice. Gender and plural: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

How to pronounce queso

Queso is pronounced KEH-soh, in IPA /ˈkeso/. Queso has two syllables, KEH-soh, with the stress on the first. There is no written accent because the word follows the basic rule: words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

• Qu is a plain k; the u is silent.

Listen: normal and slow speed, in your browser's Spanish voice. IPA: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Is queso masculine or feminine?

Queso is masculine, so it takes el (the) and un (a): el queso. The plural is los quesos. That fits the usual pattern: most nouns ending in -o are masculine.

Example sentences

Pan con queso
bread with cheese

Me gusta el queso.
I like cheese.

Quiero queso fresco
I want fresh cheese

"Cheese" in Spain and Latin America

In the US "queso" usually means a melted cheese dip; in Spanish queso is any cheese.

Regional words and roots: Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE). Spanish varies by region, so treat these as the most common patterns, not strict rules.

How to remember queso

queso [KEH-soh] sounds like the English “case oh”. Picture this:

You open the case — oh! — a wheel of cheese rolls out and down the stairs.

A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method, a well-studied way to learn vocabulary. How it works.

Practice queso

Two quick games, right here: no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere.

Word web: queso

Words that live next to queso in the Palabra word web, each with its own English sound-alike and scene. Learning them together makes each one easier to recall.