what does this mean????
Hey guys i was wondering what the upside down ! means? and what the upside down ? means? also what does the ~ squigel mean over like the n of nina or nino and also wy do they have these keys on a regular keyboard?
4 Answers
The letters n and ñ make different sounds. The 'squiggle' above the letter lets you know which is which.
Under Learn --> Spanish grammar -> Spanish alphabet and pronunciation (under pronunciation), there is a whole lesson on this.
If you type in the letter n and press the sound icon, you can hear the sound and the same with the letter ñ.
There is a Spanish keyboard that has all the Spanish accents and marks. But you can go to your computer control center and add a Spanish keyboard function so you can switch back and forth. Go to Q & A, then under the Ask a Question box, there is a search box. Use that to type in the keywords 'how do I type accents' or something like that. There are many, many old threads and posts about it and you can learn how to do it.
They don't mean anything. In English we only use one ! or ? , but in Spanish you have to use two.
So the correct written sentence structure for asking a question is:
¿Cómo estás?
But since people are often lazy you'll see this:
Cómo estás?
Very common, but it's not the correct way to write it. In a classroom this would be marked as wrong.
Same thing with the !
The correct way to write it:
¡Hola!
The incorrect way to write it:
Hola!
Omitting the beginning ! or ? doesn't change the meaning, so don't worry. Just remember you're not being grammatically correct.
thanks guys(:
They are just extra symbols we use in Spanish. ¿Cómo está usted? (How are you?) It is just a rule we use. El niña... Accent marks are used to emphasize words. I hope that helps.
