Language/Spanish/Vocabulary/Punctuation
The rules for writing in Spanish punctuation marks are:
Coma / Comma
There is no space between the word and comma, a space after the comma, except for the decimal comma (2,5).
- Example: El perro, el gato. = The dog, the cat.
Punto / Period
There is no space between the word and the period. There is a a space after, except for numerals (10.457).
- Example: El perro ladra. El gato maúlla. = The dog barks. The cat meows.
Punto y Coma / semicolon
There is no space between the word and the semicolon and a space after.
- Example: El gato es blanco; el perro es negro. = The cat is white; the dog is black.
Dos puntos/Two points
There is no space between the word and the colon, a space after.
- Example: La sopa contiene: tomates y patatas = The soup contains: tomatoes and potatoes
Signos de interrogación/exclamación - interrogation/ exclamation signs
In Spanish these signs are required at the beginning and the end of the sentence. They are placed right next to the first and last word of the sentence, with no space. The previous words and the words are separated by a space. If the question mark / exclamation is followed by another punctuation mark, there is no space between.
- Example: :¡Juan!, ¿son ya las siete?; es muy tarde. = Juan! it's already seven? It's too late.
The last question/exclamation sign is equivalent to a period when it is at the end of the sentence.
- Example: Vi la película. ¡Qué susto! = I saw the movie. What a fright!
After the last question/exclamation mark, we can write any punctuation sign except the period. The following sentence must start with a lowercase letter.
- Example: ¿Cómo fue la fiesta?, me hubiera gustado participar. = How was the party ?, I would have liked to participate
How to Type Spanish Signs?
| Sign | Type |
|---|---|
| ¡ | right Alt + 1 |
| « | right Alt + [ |
| ¿ | right Alt + / |
| » | right Alt + ] |