Spanish Punctuation

Quick Answer

Spanish and English use the same punctuation for many things. For example, both use periods at the end of statements and commas to separate elements in a list. There are also some punctuation marks used only in Spanish, as well as some punctuation marks that English and Spanish use differently.

First, here are some common punctuation marks, or signos de puntuación!

List of Spanish Punctuation Marks

Spanish	English	Punctuation Mark
punto	period	.
punto final	period (at the end of a sentence)	.
punto y aparteor punto aparte	period (at the end of a paragraph)	.
coma	comma	,
signos de exclamación	exclamation marks	¡!
signos de interrogación	question marks	¿?
signo de apertura de exclamación	opening exclamation mark	¡
signo de apertura de interrogación	opening question mark	¿
signo de cierre de exclamación	closing exclamation mark	!
signo de cierre de interrogación	closing question mark	?
dos puntos	colon	:
punto y coma	semicolon	;
puntos suspensivos	ellipsis	...
guion	hyphen or (en) dash	-
raya	em dash	—
paréntesis	parentheses	( )
corchetes	square brackets	[ ]
llaves	curly brackets	{ }
comillas españolas	angle quotes or guillemets	« »
comillasor comillas inglesas	quotation marks or double quotation marks	“ ”
comillas angulares, comillas latinasor comillas simples	single quotation marks	‘ ’

And now, on to some of the uses of these signos de puntuación!

Punto: Uses and Examples

Used at the end of a statement.

examples
Fuimos al parque ayer. We went to the park yesterday.

Used at the end of an abbreviation.

examples
etc. etc.
Sra. Mrs.

Used in urls and email addresses.

examples
www.spanishdict.com www.spanishdict.com
casper–arroba–spanishdict.com casper–at–spanishdict.com

Used to separate the hour and minute in time expressions (using a colon is also ok).

examples
7.30 7:30
12.00 12:00

Coma: Uses and Examples

Used to separate dependent and independent clauses.

examples
Si no entiendes, no dudes en contactarme. If you don't understand, don't hesitate to contact me.

Used to separate elements in a list.

There is no coma used before conjunctions like y or o in Spanish lists.

examples
Compré leche, manzanas y pan. I bought milk, apples, and bread.

Used before question tags.

Question tags are short, often one-word questions used to affirm a previous statement.

examples
Te gustan las uvas, ¿verdad? You like grapes, don't you?
Hace calor, ¿no? It's hot, isn't it?

Comillas: Uses and Examples

Used to denote quoted speech.

Las comillas españolas are often used in quoted speech, especially in books written in Spanish.

examples
«¡María, te amo!», exclamó Juan. "Maria, I love you!" exclaimed Juan.
«¿Por qué me sigues mintiendo?». Después de decir eso, se fue. "Why do keep lying to me?" After saying that, he left.

In Spanish, final punctuation falls outside of quotations, whereas in American English, it falls inside the quotations. The Spanish style can sometimes lead to what would be considered double punctuation in English (like the . following the ? in the example above). In Spanish, this is correct!

Puntos de Exclamación: Uses and Examples

Used to frame exclamations.

Although often omitted in texts and emails, Spanish exclamations should open with a signo de apertura de exclamación (opening exclamation mark). Note how the opening exclamation mark goes just before the part of a sentence that is the actual exclamation.

examples
¡Qué bonita te ves! How pretty you look!
Si me vuelves a molestar, ¡te voy a acusar con mi mamá! If you bother me again, I'm going to tell Mom!

Puntos de Interrogación: Uses and Examples

Used to frame questions.

Although often omitted in texts and emails, Spanish questions should open with a signo de apertura de interrogación (opening question mark). Note how the opening question mark goes just before the question tag or the part of a sentence that is the actual question.