what is with the upside down question marks?

Question

Why are there inverted (upside down) question marks like this **¿ in Spanish writing?**

I have edited your request in order to write it in a way that is more gramatically correct and so make it clearer for those who want to help you

Bienvenida al foro. Welcome to the forum. - 0074b507, Jun 17, 2010

Answer 1

There are also upside exclamation marks before exclamations - ¡Goooooooooooollllll! - Goal, in the Mexican fútbol league.

Answer 2

They are actually quite handy because if a sentence contains more than a question, the question marks frame the question only.

Si no te gusta la comida, ¿por qué la comes?

If you don't like the food, why are you eating it?

I had wondered about that; having seen the leading question mark not at the very beginning & wondering why. - cnthomp, Jun 17, 2010

Answer 3

Some languages use no special punctuation to indicate a question (a question is simply punctuated the same way as a statement). Some use what you call "a question mark". Some use what you would call a "semi-colon". Are you under the impression that there is one, and only one, correct way to punctuate a question? If so, ¿who made this decision?

Answer 4

Like English, questions in Spanish end in a question mark. However, questions in Spanish are also preceded by an upside down question mark.

For example: ¿Cómo estás? means 'How are you?'

Answer 5

My high school Spanish teacher (from Ecuador, so a bit biased) told us that Spanish was the only sane language, because they did this. She said it prevents you from realizing too late that you are reading a question, and wasting time backing up and re-reading it to get the correct sense of what you are reading.

Interesting,but that only works with a question within a statement. I read questions in English and never get confused. - BellaMargarita, Jun 17, 2010

Yes, questions in English begin with words like How, Who, What, Where, Why, When... - CoolCatCrash, Jul 2, 2013

Answer 6

Personally, I think it helps you read a book out loud (Or something else to that effect). That way, when you are reading it aloud, it will sound like a question from begining to end, like you are the real person asking the question.

Otherwise, I think someone got a little, "Trigger happy," while, "Inventing," the spanish language .

Answer 7

No one knows exactly how the upside down puncutation came to be None of the other Romance Languages has it.

Probably some typesetter foul-up! He inserted the mark upside down and at the beginning of the next sentence, then thought, hey, that's a good idea! - 0074b507, Jun 17, 2010

maybe someone was trying to write Spanish while at their mirror or even copy a secret message through using a mirror ??? - FELIZ77, Jun 17, 2010

!icniV aD odranoeL fo sedahS - 0074b507, Jun 17, 2010

Answer 8

They do it because they want to know if the sentence is a question, exclamation etcetera.

Answer 9

Ellos lo hacen porque quieren saber si la oración es una pregunta, exclamación etcétera.