Do you use commas in Spanish

Question

I was wondering if you use commas in spanish and if you do, do you pause when you read through one.

Answer 1

Never ever under no circumstances whatsoever we use no punctuation marks in Spanish it's all free streaming and we just sort of figure it out by a sort of empathic telepathy that only native Spanish speakers share

never use capitalization either or spell out the word que and use spaces when and if you feel like it - KevinB, Sep 9, 2010

Gekkosan, you bad! :) -J - Jeremias, Sep 9, 2010

I agree with the empathic telepathy - kawalero, Sep 9, 2010

cheeky boys! - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 9, 2010

Answer 2

Hi Trembles, and welcome to the forum.

Yes commas are used in Spanish, and the flow of speech pauses at a comma. But there is a difference between written Spanish and English with regard to commas:

ENGLISH: my brother, my sister, and I... OR my borther, my sister and I... (you can omit the comma before "and".

SPANISH: mi hermano, mi hermana, y yo (you must omit a comma before the "y"

J

I think in this case you can omit the comma in Spanish as you do in English. I think it would even be weird to write a comma before "y", though you may pause while talking. - LoaEtayo, Sep 9, 2010

In a list (series like above) the comma is not used before a "y", but before conjunctions and linking words they are used like in English. - 0074b507, Sep 9, 2010

Your final example sentence does not reflect what your parenthetical comment suggests. - samdie, Sep 9, 2010

Answer 3

yes, we use them. In written language, commas show a grammatical hierarchy that do not always conveys pauses in spoken language.

Right! My lordy proper English coma rules are so complicated! I Try to write in very short punchy sentences. - rabbitwho, Sep 9, 2010

Answer 4

And the important comma that separates cents from the Euros!

99,95 €

Vs. $1,999.95

€ 1.999,95

We wouldn't want the tourist confused, would we?

I didn't apply for a job last month because I was so confused about the salery! - rabbitwho, Sep 9, 2010

Answer 5

Yes, it's pretty much the same as English. There are a few minor differences, but not many.

The only real differences in punctuation are the ¿ and ¡. Spanish puts question and exclamation marks both before and after the question and exclamation phrase, which may not begin at the beginning of the sentence, so they're often in the middle of the sentence.