{{short description|Punctuation marks (¿ and ¡)}} {{Redirect2|¡|¿|text=Not to be confused with Temherte slaq, Sublingual consonant, i, or İ. For "?", see Question mark. For "!", see Exclamation mark}} {{Infobox punctuation mark|mark=¿ ¡ |name=Upside-down question mark<br />Upside-down exclamation mark |unicode= {{unichar|00BF|Inverted question mark}}<br /> {{unichar|00A1|Inverted exclamation mark}} }} The '''upside-down''' (also '''inverted''', '''turned''' or '''rotated''') '''question mark''' {{char|¿}} and '''exclamation mark''' {{char|¡}} are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences or clauses in Spanish and some languages that have cultural ties with Spain, such as Asturian and Waray.<ref>{{cite book|last=Luangco|first=Gregorio C.|title=Kandabao: Essays on Waray language, literature, and culture|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2749126|date=1982|chapter=Ortograpiya han Binisaya |publisher=Divine Word University}}</ref> The initial marks are mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the ordinary question mark {{char|?}} or exclamation mark {{char|!}}.
Upside-down marks are supported by various standards, including Unicode and HTML. They can be entered directly on keyboards designed for Spanish-speaking countries.
==Usage== {{Main|Spanish orthography}} [[File:Signosdepuntuación html y binario.pdf|thumb|Punctuation marks in Spanish, showing their positions relative to the baseline]] 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 {{char|?}} 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 important in Spanish since the syntax of the language means that both statements and questions or exclamations could have the same wording.<ref name="Rosetta">{{cite web|last=Galavitz |first=Rowena |date=September 5, 2019 |title=What's Up With The Upside Down Question Mark? |url=https://blog.rosettastone.com/whats-up-with-the-upside-down-question-mark/ |website=Rosetta Stone Inc. |access-date=April 10, 2020 |quote=The upside-down question marks in Spanish are needed to let the reader know immediately that a question is involved.}}</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.
Unlike the ending marks, which are printed along the baseline of the text, the upside-down marks (¿ and ¡) normally descend below the line, though they are printed along the baseline in all-cap text<!--for example in DejaVu Serif font-->.
The upside-down exclamation mark is a phonetic symbol in the Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
==History== Upside-down marks, simple in the era of hand typesetting, were originally recommended by the {{Lang|es|Real Academia Española}} (Royal Spanish Academy), in the second edition of the {{lang|es|Ortografía de la lengua castellana}} (Orthography of the Castilian language) in 1754<ref>{{cite web|title=Ediciones de la Ortografía Académica|trans-title=Editions of the Academic Orthography |url=http://www.rae.es/sites/default/files/Tabla_ediciones_Ortografia.pdf|publisher=Real Academia Española|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617020907/https://www.rae.es/sites/default/files/Tabla_ediciones_Ortografia.pdf|archive-date=June 17, 2023|access-date=May 22, 2017|language=Spanish}}</ref> recommending it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish—e.g. {{lang|es|"¿Cuántos años tienes?"|italic=yes}} ("How old are you?"; {{lit|How many years do you have?|}}). The Real Academia also ordered the same upside-down-symbol system for statements of exclamation, using the symbols "¡" and "!".
These new rules were slow to be adopted: there are 19th-century books in which the printer uses neither "¡" nor "¿".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carrithers|first1=Michael|last2=Candea|first2=Matei|last3=Sykes|first3=Karen|last4=Holbraad|first4=Martin|last5=Venkatesan|first5=Soumya|date=May 28, 2010|title=Ontology is just another word for culture |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308275X09364070|url-access=subscription|website=Critique of Anthropology|publisher=Sage Journals|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250626220935/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308275X09364070|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 26, 2025 |access-date=June 26, 2025}} [https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x09364070 Alt URL]</ref>
Outside of the Spanish-speaking world, John Wilkins proposed using the upside-down exclamation mark "¡" as a symbol at the end of a sentence to denote irony in 1668. He was one of many, including Desiderius Erasmus, who felt there was a need for such a punctuation mark, but Wilkins' proposal, like the other attempts, failed to take hold.<ref name="Houston2013">{{cite book |first=Keith |last=Houston |title=Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3R2SAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 214] |date=September 24, 2013 |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-24154-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Popova|first=Maria|title=Ironic Serif: A Brief History of Typographic Snark and the Failed Crusade for an Irony Mark |url=http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/27/shady-characters-irony/|work=Brain Pickings|date=September 27, 2013|access-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref>
==Adoption== Some writers omit the upside-down question mark in the case of a short unambiguous question such as: {{lang|es|"Quién viene?"|italic=yes}} ("Who comes?"). This is the criterion in Galician<ref>{{cite book |title=Normas ortográficas e morfolóxicas do idioma galego |trans-title=Orthographic rules and morphology of the Galician language |publisher=Real Academia Galega |isbn=978-84-87987-78-6 |page=27 |edition=23ª |chapter-url=https://www.lingua.gal/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=1647069&name=DLFE-10938.pdf |access-date=December 25, 2021 |language=gl |chapter=7. Os signos de interrogación e de admiración |year=2012 |quote=Para facilitar a lectura e evitar ambigüidades pode-rase indicar o inicio destas entoacións cos signos ¿ e ¡, respectivamente. |archive-date=January 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115051448/https://www.lingua.gal/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=1647069&name=DLFE-10938.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://portaldaspalabras.gal/video/posicion-signo-de-interrogacion-e-exclamacion/ |title=A posición do signo de interrogación (?) e exclamación (!) |trans-title=The position of the question mark (?) and exclamation mark (!) |date=October 21, 2017 |website=Portal das Palabras |access-date=December 25, 2021}}{{in lang|gl}}</ref> and formerly in Catalan.<ref>{{citation |chapter=Els signes d'interrogació i d'admiració (Acord de l'11 de juny de 1993) |title=Documents de la Secció Filològica |trans-title=The signs of questioning and admiration |volume=III |year=1996 |author=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |pages=92–94 |chapter-url=http://www.iecat.net/institucio/seccions/Filologica/llenguacatalana/documentsnormatius/docsf2.htm |language=Catalan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906173859/http://www.iecat.net/institucio/seccions/Filologica/llenguacatalana/documentsnormatius/docsf2.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |access-date=May 7, 2012}}</ref> Certain Catalan-language authorities, such as Joan Solà i Cortassa, insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity.<ref name="Houston2013" /> The current Institute for Catalan Studies prescription is never to use the upside-down marks for Catalan.<ref>{{citation |chapter=Els signes d'entonació inicials |title=Manual d'estil. La redacció i l'edició de textes. |trans-title=Manual of style. Writing and editing texts. |author=Josep M. Mestres |author2=Joan Coste |author3=Mireira Oliva |author4=Ricard Fité |edition=4 |date=2009 |pages=197–200 |access-date=March 5, 2022 |chapter-url=https://estil.llocs.iec.cat/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/02/07_Pag_167-278_p-4.pdf |publisher=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |language=Catalan |archive-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026104423/https://estil.llocs.iec.cat/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/02/07_Pag_167-278_p-4.pdf}}</ref> However, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua allows optional use of the upside-down marks.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 2006 |title=Gramàtica normativa valenciana |trans-title=Valencian Normative Grammar |url=https://lletradebatalla.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/gramc3a0tica-normativa-avl.pdf |website=Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua |language=Valencian |pages=70–71 |access-date=September 3, 2025 |archive-date=September 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250903162556/https://lletradebatalla.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/gramc3a0tica-normativa-avl.pdf}}</ref>
Some Spanish-language writers, among them Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), refuse to use the upside-down question mark.<ref>{{cite web |last=Neruda |first=Pablo |date=June 2008 |title=''Antología Fundamental'' |trans-title=''Fundamental Anthology'' |url=http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425154155/http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |access-date=November 10, 2011}} [http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html Alt URL] {{small|(556 KB)}} {{ISBN|978-956-16-0169-7}}. p. 7 {{in lang|es}}</ref>
Upside-down marks are often omitted in informal writing, such as in texting.<ref>{{cite web |last=Monroy |first=Marco |date=November 27, 2023 |title=How to use upside down question marks in Spanish: A top guide |url=https://www.berlitz.com/blog/upside-down-question-mark-spanish-exclamation-mark |website=Berlitz Corporation |access-date=September 2, 2025 |archive-date=December 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226051733/https://www.berlitz.com/blog/upside-down-question-mark-spanish-exclamation-mark}}</ref>
==Mixtures== <!-- Courtesy note per [{WP:RSECT]]: Interrobang#Inverted interrobang links here. --> It is acceptable in Spanish to begin a sentence with an opening upside-down exclamation mark ("¡") and end it with a question mark ("?"), or vice versa, for statements that are questions but also have a clear sense of exclamation or surprise such as: {{lang|es|¡Y tú quién te crees?}} ("And who do you think you are?!"). Normally, four signs are used, always with one type in the outer side and the other in the inner side (nested) (''{{lang|es|¿¡Y tú quién te crees!?}}'', ''{{lang|es|¡¿Y tú quién te crees?!}}'')<ref>{{cite web |date=2025 |title=Diccionario prehispánico de dudas |url=https://www.rae.es/dpd/signos%20de%20interrogaci%C3%B3n%20y%20exclamaci%C3%B3n#S1590507319988076314 |access-date=September 17, 2025 |work=RAE |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130195309/https://www.rae.es/dpd/signos%20de%20interrogaci%C3%B3n%20y%20exclamaci%C3%B3n#S1590507319988076314 |url-status=live }} {{in lang|es}}</ref>
Unicode 5.1 also includes {{unichar|2E18|INVERTED INTERROBANG}}, which is an upside-down version of the interrobang, a nonstandard punctuation mark used to denote both excitement and a question in one glyph. It is also known as a "gnaborretni" ({{IPAc-en|ŋ|ˌ|n|ɑː|b|ɔːr|ˈ|ɛ|t|.|n|i}}) (interrobang spelled backwards).
==Computer usage== [[File:KB Spanish.svg|thumb|420px|The Spanish keyboard provides the symbols 'as standard' (top row, right).]]
===Encodings=== {{char|¡}} and {{char|¿}} are in the "Latin-1 Supplement" Unicode block, which is inherited from ISO-8859-1: * {{unichar|00A1|inverted exclamation mark}} * {{unichar|00BF|inverted question mark}}
==See also== * Spanish orthography * {{annotated link|Unicode input}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{navbox punctuation}}
Category:Spanish language Category:Punctuation Category:Interrogative words and phrases Category:Catalan language