Upside-down question and exclamation marks: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:00, 4 January 2025

Revision as of 17:44, 7 February 2025

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The upside-down question mark {{char|¿}} is written before the first letter of an interrogative sentence or clause to indicate that a question follows. It is a rotated form of the standard symbol "?" recognized by speakers of other languages written with the [[Latin script]]. A regular question mark is written at the end of the sentence or clause.

Upside-down punctuation is especially critical in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (although [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] are also prone to the following syntax structure) since the syntax of the language means that both statements and questions or exclamations could have the same wording.<ref name="Rosetta">{{cite web|url =https://blog.rosettastone.com/whats-up-with-the-upside-down-question-mark/ | title= What's Up With The Upside Down Question Mark? | website=[[Rosetta Stone Inc.]] | date= September 5, 2019 | access-date = 31 May 2020 }}</ref> "Do you like summer?" and "You like summer." are translated respectively as {{lang|es|"¿Te gusta el verano?"|italic=yes}} and {{lang|es|"Te gusta el verano."|italic=yes}} (There is not always a difference between the wording of a [[yes–no question]] and the corresponding statement in Spanish.)

In sentences that are both declarative and interrogative, the clause that asks a question is isolated with the starting-symbol upside-down question mark, for example: {{lang|es|"Si no puedes ir con ellos, ¿quieres ir con nosotros?"|italic=yes}} ("If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?"), not *{{lang|es|"¿Si no puedes ir con ellos, quieres ir con nosotros?"|italic=yes}} This helps to recognize questions and exclamations in long sentences.