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Spanish · Writing · A1 to C1

Spanish punctuation: ¿ ¡, «comillas», the raya and the comma

Where does the ¿ go? · pick a sentence
¿Dónde está el baño?
¿Dóndewhereestáisel baño?the bathroom
DON-deh es-TAH el BAH-nyoh · “Where’s the bathroom?”Why: A whole-sentence question: ¿ at the very start.

Short answer: Spanish opens every question with ¿ and every exclamation with ¡, placed where the question or exclamation actually starts, which may be mid-sentence. Quotations use «comillas angulares» in careful writing, and dialogue in novels is marked with a long dash, la raya (—). Commas mostly follow English, but Spanish never puts a comma between subject and verb, and numbers use a comma for decimals: 3,5.

Every mark, in Spanish

Los signos: names you will hear

Dialogue with the raya

—¿Vienes? —preguntó Ana.

—¿Vienes? —preguntó Ana. opens the speechopens the narrator’s wordsfull stop goes last
The narrator’s verb starts in lower case (preguntó) because it continues the sentence. No quotation marks are used.
Commas, quotes and numbers

Comas, comillas, números

No comma between subject and verb
Los alumnosthe studentsquewhoestudianstudyaprueban.pass
lohs ah-LOOM-nohs keh es-TOO-dyan ah-PRWEH-ban · “Students who study pass.”Why: Even with a long subject, no comma before the verb.
Comma after a long opening phrase
Por la mañana,in the morningtrabajo.I-work
por lah mah-NYAH-nah, trah-BAH-hoh · “In the morning, I work.”Why: Same as English.
Comma before pero
Quiero ir,I-want goperobutno puedo.not I-can
KYEH-roh EER, PEH-roh noh PWEH-doh · “I want to go, but I can’t.”Why: pero always takes a comma before it.
No comma before y in lists
Pan,breadlechemilkyandhuevos.eggs
PAN, LEH-cheh ee WEH-bohs · “Bread, milk and eggs.”Why: Spanish does not use the Oxford comma.
«Comillas» for quotes
Dijo:he-said«Yaalreadyvoy».I-go
DEE-hoh: yah BOY · “He said, “Coming.””Why: A colon introduces the quote; the full stop goes after the closing ».
Decimal comma
Mideit-measures1,751.75metros.metres
MEE-deh OO-noh KOH-mah seh-TEN-tah ee THEEN-koh MEH-trohs · “It’s 1.75 metres tall.”Why: Spain uses a comma for decimals. Mexico and some others use a point.
Capital letters: fewer than in English

lunes, enero, español

TypeEnglishSpanish
DaysMondaylunes
MonthsJanuaryenero
LanguagesSpanishespañol
Nationalitiesa Mexican womanuna mexicana
Titles before a nameMr Garcíael señor García
Book titlesOne Hundred Years of SolitudeCien años de soledad
Punctuation in emails and letters

Estimada Sra. García:

Formal Spanish letters open with a colon, not a comma, and the next line starts with a capital.

Writing dates and numbers

3/5/2026, 1.500, 9:30 h

Dates: day first
el 3/5/2026the 3/5/2026
el TRES deh MAH-yoh · “3 May 2026”Why: Day / month / year, never month first.
Thousands
1.5001,500habitantesinhabitants
meel kee-NYEN-tohs ah-bee-TAN-tes · “1,500 inhabitants”Why: A full stop for thousands in Spain; Mexico uses a comma.
Time
a lasat the9:30 h9:30
ah lahs NWEH-beh ee MEH-dyah · “at 9.30”Why: The 24-hour clock with h in writing.
Ordinals
el 1.ºthe 1stpisofloor
el pree-MEHR PEE-soh · “the first floor”Why: 1.º (primero), 2.ª (segunda): full stop + small letter.
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