If you're learning Spanish, then you know that question and exclamation marks in Spanish are written upside down. If you're not a Spanish learner, it seems quite weird, doesn't?
¿ ¡ Upside-down punctuation marks in Spanish. Why and how they appeared?
But what we have to remember is that the inverted question and exclamation marks can start their way not precisely in the beginning of a sentence! We put the upside-down question mark ¿ exactly in the beginning of a question and the upside-down exclamation mark ¡ in the beginning of an exclamation. Have a look at the example and you'll get it clear :)
Estoy muy feliz, ¿y tú? | Pues, ¡nos vemos mañana!
(I'm very happy, and you? Okay then, see you tomorrow!)
Estoy muy feliz, ¿y tú? | Pues, ¡nos vemos mañana!
(I'm very happy, and you? Okay then, see you tomorrow!)
In English, French, Russian and other languages we need just one ? or ! at the end of a sentence. Just choose what you need. Meanwhile, in Spanish we have to start a question with a question mark (but upside down) and finish it with a usual one:
¿Cómo te llamas? ¿A dónde vas? ¿A que te dedicas?
(What's your name? Where are you going? What's your job?)
¿Cómo te llamas? ¿A dónde vas? ¿A que te dedicas?
(What's your name? Where are you going? What's your job?)
From the first sight it can seem very strange and hard, but in reality such punctuation marks are quite helpful - they help us understand and predict if it's going to be a question or an exclamation just when we start reading a sentence, so that we'll make a right intonation.
Surprisingly, there's something similar in English! We usually begin a question in English with such words as DO, DOES, DID, etc. which tell us: "A question is coming up. Make a right intonation!"
WHAT ABOUT NOWADAYS?
Today Spanish is said to be the only language using such upside-down marks! There are some other languages using ¡ and ¿ which are related to Spanish culture, though.
Is it possible to write a question in Spanish with only one punctuation mark at the end of the sentence? Yes, but only in messages and other social media websites (that is, in everyday life), since people tend to be lazy to add one more sign in the beginning of a sentence :) However, in books and newspapers, for example, ¡ and ¿ are always present.
Today Spanish is said to be the only language using such upside-down marks! There are some other languages using ¡ and ¿ which are related to Spanish culture, though.
Is it possible to write a question in Spanish with only one punctuation mark at the end of the sentence? Yes, but only in messages and other social media websites (that is, in everyday life), since people tend to be lazy to add one more sign in the beginning of a sentence :) However, in books and newspapers, for example, ¡ and ¿ are always present.
WHEN IT ALL STARTED
You may ask: how did these upside-down punctuation marks even appear? Well, these inverted marks were offered by the Royal Spanish Academy which published the 2nd edition of the "Ortografía de la lengua castellana" in 1754. To be precise, at first the question mark "¿" was offered to appear in usage (and it took quite long to be adopted) and after some time the "¡" was added as well.
You may ask: how did these upside-down punctuation marks even appear? Well, these inverted marks were offered by the Royal Spanish Academy which published the 2nd edition of the "Ortografía de la lengua castellana" in 1754. To be precise, at first the question mark "¿" was offered to appear in usage (and it took quite long to be adopted) and after some time the "¡" was added as well.
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