why is there always an upside ? or !, etc. before the sentence as well? seems redundant... (newbie)
¿come esta?
10 Answers
The reason is that many if not most questions in Spanish look like statements and the question is made using intonation of the voice.
With a ¿ at the beginning the reader will know a question is intended.
Tienes hambre (a statement) You are hungry.
¿Tienes hambre? (a question) Are you hungry?
Most questions in English start with a word that we know means there is a question coming.
Sometimes there is not and we have to adjust our voice accordingly to make the question.
In fact, the rule is not to put an upside down ¿ or ¡ at the beginning of the whole sentence, as some people who learn Spanish think, but at the beginning of the question - which can start at the beginning, in the middle, or almost at the end. But again, since English questions normally start with a word that clearly shows they start this isn't a problem. In Spanish this is twice as important.
Eg:
Do you see that sign? ¿Ves esa señal?
I can't believe I didn't see that before, do you see that sign? No puedo creer que no me fijase antes, ¿ves esa señal?
If you just write the question mark at the beginning of the sentence: '¿No puedo creer... señal? , this reads as 'Can I believe I didn't.. sign?' In other words, the ¿? are necessary in written Spanish to know where a question starts and ends.
Another example of a sentence where the lack of a proper ¿ would change the meaning in a way that would confuse the reader would be:
'En serio, ¿te gusta?' and '¿En serio te gusta?'
The first means: 'Really.. do you like it?' and the second means 'Do you really like it?'
Welcome to the forum Taj, as a beginner myself I can't give you a very grammatical answer but I can say that as you learn Spanish you will notice the reasoning behind it. Questions don't always look like questions until yo get to the end of the statement. The ¿ let's you know in advance, regardless of the way it looks that it is in fact a question. Keep watching your question because I know someone will come along with a good explanation soon.
Welcome to the forum.
If you think about it makes more sense than in other languages. In Spanish you know whether it's a question or exclamation even before you read the first word.
I suppose it does seem redundant to English speakers, but it's simply the punctuation custom in Spanish. Spanish speakers tend to think English is missing something when they don't see the initial ¡ or ¿. 
Welcome to the forum.
The real question is why there isn't an upside down "." before regular sentences. 
I always found the upsidedown punctuation quite useful when reading aloud. In English, I would often get half way through the sentence before I realized it was supposed to be said like a question. In Spanish, you know right away.
I like the use of upside-down marks to signify the beginning of an enclosed question or exclamation (and quotes too!). What I dislike is that some publications (usually online) get lazy about typography and ¡ is sometimes made using lower-case I ( i ), like:
iHola! (Instead of ¡Hola!)
In the Internet-age, where an "i" prefix has been used much for marketing names, I sometimes parse the i as part of the word, slowing down my reading.
thank you everyone for the welcome to this forum. im sure ill be using it more and learn the appropriate places for certain questions.
muchos gracias!
What do you mean, "Why"? Language is arbitrary which means it is the way it is for no logical reason. If Spanish were like English we wouldn't have this website because we would all speak the same language.
