Inverted Question and Exclamation Marks: ¿ and ¡
Why Spanish opens questions and exclamations with an upside-down mark, and how to type them.
Spanish places a mark at the beginning of a question or exclamation as well as the end.
The rule
- A question opens with ¿ and closes with ?
- An exclamation opens with ¡ and closes with !
Examples:
- ¿Cómo estás? How are you?
- ¿Dónde vives? Where do you live?
- ¡Qué bonito! How beautiful!
- ¡Feliz cumpleaños! Happy birthday!
Why
The opening mark tells the reader right away that a question or exclamation is coming, so they can read it with the right intonation.
Within a sentence
The mark goes where the question starts, not necessarily at the start of the sentence:
- Si tienes tiempo, ¿puedes ayudarme? If you have time, can you help me?
- Pedro, ¿vienes mañana? Pedro, are you coming tomorrow?
Multiple questions
Each question gets its own pair of marks:
- ¿Quién es? ¿Qué quiere? Who is it? What does he want?
Typing the marks
- On a phone: hold down the ? or ! key and choose the inverted version, or use a Spanish keyboard.
- On Windows: Alt+168 for ¿ and Alt+173 for ¡.
- On a Mac: Option+Shift+? for ¿ and Option+1 for ¡.
In informal writing
In quick chat messages, many Spanish speakers drop the opening mark. In formal writing, school work and exams, always include it.
Quotation marks
Spain and many other countries also use angle quotes, « », though standard quotation marks are common too.
Tips
- Always open and close.
- Place the opening mark at the start of the question.
- Add a Spanish keyboard to your phone.
English Spanish Dictionary
Offline English–Spanish dictionary with gender and accents handled properly
More about English Spanish Dictionary
Spanish Accents and Stress Rules Explained
Two simple rules tell you which syllable to stress, and the written accent marks the exceptions.
Read article →Spanish Consonants: B, V, H, LL, Ñ and RR
The consonants that surprise English speakers, from the silent h to the rolled r and the tilde on ñ.
Read article →Spanish Noun Gender: Masculine and Feminine
How to guess whether a Spanish noun is masculine or feminine from its ending, and the common exceptions.
Read article →Spanish Pronunciation: The Five Pure Vowels
Spanish has just five vowel sounds, each pronounced the same way every time. Learn them and a lot of reading falls into place.
Read article →