In Spanish, a question mark is called a signo de interrogación. The opening upside-down question mark is called a signo de interrogación de apertura, while the closing question mark is called a signo de interrogación de cierre.

Why does Spanish use two question marks?

The opening question mark in Spanish makes it clear to the reader that a phrase is a question and should therefore be read with a questioning intonation. It saves the reader having to look to the end of the phrase to see whether something is a question or not.

Before 1754, Spanish used a single question mark at the end of a phrase, like in other European languages.

In 1754, the Real Academia Española (RAE) published the second edition of their Ortografía de la Lengua Castellana (Orthography of the Spanish Language). In this publication, the RAE stated that long question phrases should have both an opening and a closing question mark.

The RAE’s second edition of the Ortografía de la Lengua Castellana also instructed readers that long phrases with an exclamation mark at the end should also have an upside-down exclamation mark (¡) at the beginning.

The opening question mark makes it clear to the reader that a phrase should be read with a questioning intonation. This is particularly useful in long phrases, where the reader might otherwise not realize something was a question until the end of the phrase.

This was the main reason the academics behind the Ortografía de la Lengua Castellana decided to add the opening question mark:

…hay periodos o cláusulas largas en que no basta la nota que se pone al fin y es necesario desde el principio indicar el sentido y tono interrogante con que debe leerse…

…there are long sentences or clauses in which the mark that is placed at the end is not enough, and it is necessary to indicate from the beginning the meaning and interrogatory tone with which it should be read…

Despite the initial question mark originally being added to show that long phrases were questions, it is now used in all question phrases, even if they are just one word, as in ¿Cómo?

This has been the case since 1870, when another edition of the Ortografía de la Lengua Castellana stated that the opening question mark should be used regardless of the length of the phrase. This simplified things and meant that writers no longer needed to decide whether a phrase was long enough to merit an opening question mark or not.

Do any other languages use two question marks?

Spanish is the only language in which the use of two question marks is always necessary in interrogatory phrases.

In Catalan, the use of an opening question mark is optional. It is rarely used in short phrases, especially when the first word indicates a question. However, it is recommended in long phrases where the reader otherwise wouldn’t realize, they were reading a question until the end of the phrase.

The situation is similar in Galician, where the opening question mark is optional and is more likely to be used in long phrases.

In Portuguese, the opening question mark is never used.

Why don’t other languages use two question marks?

Since Spanish has been using the opening question mark since the 1700s, it’s interesting to ask why no other languages have adopted it.

Indicating the intonation with which a phrase should be read is arguably more important in Spanish than in English, since the intonation can be the only difference between a statement and a question, for example:

Juan tiene un hermano. – Juan has a brother. (statement).

¿Juan tiene un hermano? – Does Juan have a brother? (question).

Therefore, the opening question mark would be less useful in English than it is in Spanish.

However, there are other languages such as Portuguese and Italian that can form questions merely by changing the intonation, so it’s not the case that Spanish uses the opening question mark because there is something peculiar about the language that necessitates it.

How do you use the two question marks?

The rules surrounding the usage of question marks in Spanish are complex. Here are a few principles:

1. Question marks don’t always surround the whole sentence

The opening question mark should be placed immediately before the question starts, even if it is in the middle of a sentence. For example:

Dígame, ¿vienes el jueves? – Tell me, are you coming on Thursday?

In these cases, the opening question mark follows a comma.

2. The use of proper names affects where to put the question marks

If a proper name is used at the start of a phrase, the opening question mark goes after the name, for example:

María, ¿me podrías ayudar? – María, could you help me?

However, if the name goes at the end, it is included within the question marks:

¿Me podrías ayudar, María? – Could you help me, María?

3. A period isn’t needed after a question mark

Like in English, a period shouldn’t be used after a question mark.

4. Question marks can be combined with exclamation marks

You can use question marks together with exclamation marks. In these cases, the symbols can be used in either order, but should be symmetrical.

¡¿Qué pasará?! – What will happen?!

It’s also possible to use an exclamation mark at the start and a question mark at the end, or vice versa:

¿Hace treinta grados en enero! – It’s thirty Celsius in January?!

5. If several questions go together, they are separated by commas

If several related questions follow one another, they should each use a pair of question marks and be separated with commas. Each phrase that follows the first question should start with a lowercase letter, for example:

¿Quien es Mateo?, ¿de dónde viene?, ¿qué hace aquí? ­– Who is Matthew? Where does he come from? What’s he doing here?

Do you always need to use both question marks?

Both question marks should always be used when writing questions in Spanish, even if the question is just a single word.

However, there are a few cases where you can use a single question mark, for example to express doubt or irony:

Dijo que podía volar (?) – He said he could fly.

How do you type the upside-down question mark on a keyboard?

Constantly copying and pasting the upside-down question mark can be frustrating. Here are a few ways to type it on a keyboard.

Microsoft Word

Type Ctrl + Alt + Shift + / in Microsoft Word to type the upside-down question mark. This doesn’t work in other programs.

Windows

Hold down the Alt key and type 168 or 0191 (on the keypad).

Mac

Type Option + Shift + ? to type the upside-down question mark on a Mac.

Alternatively, hold down the Alt key and type 0191.

Do people still use both question marks?

On social media, it’s common to see Spanish questions without the opening question mark. In informal usage, it’s also common to see several question marks added to the end of a phrase for emphasis.

According to the RAE, the opening question mark is mandatory for ‘correct’ Spanish. However, it is often omitted in informal communication online, for example on Facebook or WhatsApp.

Sources

https://www.rae.es/dpd/signos%20de%20interrogaci%C3%B3n%20y%20exclamaci%C3%B3n

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signo_de_interrogaci%C3%B3n

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-40643378

https://www.radionacional.co/actualidad/tecnologia/como-ha-cambiado-la-escritura-en-la-era-digital

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