Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 50

CEFR B2

4 min read

Test yourself (20 questions)

Spanish Punctuation and Capitalisation: ¿, ¡ and Lowercase

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

Spanish punctuation differs from English in three ways you will meet daily: questions and exclamations open with a mark, many words English capitalises take a small letter, and numbers swap their comma and point.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the word with the wrong capital letter.

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?
  • ¿ ? - Are you coming tomorrow?
  • . - See you on Monday.

Spanish punctuation at a glance

FeatureSpanishEnglish
Questions¿?Are you coming?
Exclamations¡ !How cold!
Days, months , on Monday, in January
Languages .I speak English.
Nationalities .She's French.
Letters Ana:Dear Ana,
Decimals3,5 (Spain), 3.5 (Mexico)3.5
Capitals .He's my father.

The last row matters: a capital letter keeps its accent. Leaving it off was a typewriter habit, not a rule.

The opening ¿ and ¡

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?

Every written question opens with ¿ and closes with ?; every exclamation opens with ¡ and closes with !. Spanish needs the opening mark because its word order often gives no warning:

  • . - You' coming tomorrow.
  • ¿ ? - Are you coming tomorrow?
  • ¡ ! - It's so cold!

Only the marks and the tone of voice separate the first two. The ¿ tells the reader to start the question tone from the first word.

A sentence that is both a question and an exclamation opens and closes with both marks, in mirror order (¿¡ !? is also correct):

  • ¡¿ ?! - What are you saying?!

Where the opening mark goes

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?

The opening mark goes where the question or exclamation starts, which is not always the first word of the sentence. Whatever comes before it stays outside:

Outside the marks
The question or exclamation
,
¿ ?
Pedro,
¡ !
,
¿?

An if-clause, a name or a statement stays outside; the marks wrap only the question.

SpanishEnglish
, ¿?If it rains, are you coming?
Pedro, ¡ !Pedro, come here!
, ¿?You' coming tomorrow, aren't you?

The word after the opening mark takes a small letter unless it starts the sentence: , ¿me ?, not ¿ ?.

Small letters: days, months and languages

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?

Spanish keeps capitals for names of people and places and for the first word of a sentence. Many words English capitalises take a small letter:

TypeSpanishEnglish
day on Monday
month in January
language .I speak Spanish.
nationality .She's English.
religion .He's Catholic.
country, city Madrid.I live in Madrid.
A calendar strip of seven day cards, each with a coloured header and one activity: a book, a football, a shopping bag, music notes, a slice of pizza, a bicycle, and someone having a lie-in in bed.

Lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday), domingo (Sunday): all with a small letter.

The country keeps its capital; the language and the nationality do not:

  • . - My French friend lives in France.

In a book or film title only the first word takes a capital, plus any names: (One Hundred Years of Solitude).

Numbers: the decimal comma

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?

Spain and most of South America swap the English marks: a comma for decimals, a point or a space for thousands. Mexico, much of Central America, and the Dominican Republic write numbers as English does. The accepts both (its 2010 Ortografía even recommends the decimal point), but Spain writes the comma:

NumberSpainMexico
three and a half3,53.5
one thousand1.000, 10001,000, 1000
a price1.250,75 €$1,250.75
  • 1,5 . - The bottle holds 1.5 litres. (written in Spain)

Read the number with the conventions of the country that wrote it: in Madrid, 2,5 is two and a half.

Letters, emails and abbreviations

the mark or letter to watchWhat do the colours mean?

A letter or an email opens with the greeting and a colon, not a comma. The text starts on the next line with a capital:

  • : - Dear Madam,
  • Ana: - Dear Ana,

The common abbreviations take a capital and a full stop:

AbbreviationFull wordEnglish
.Mr
.Mrs, Ms
.you ()
Uds.you (plural, )

Dialogue: the raya and the comillas

Spanish novels open a line of speech with the , a long dash, rather than quotation marks. This site never prints a long dash, so the example below uses a hyphen where print would use the :

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
?¿ ?the opening mark
¿ , ? , ¿?the question starts later
days take a small letter
. .languages too
. .nationalities too
Ana, Ana:a colon after the greeting
. .capitals keep the accent

What to do next

  1. Write the ¿ at the moment the question starts, not when you reach the end.
  2. Do the letter and the spot-the-capital below.
  3. Then the Spanish accent rules, the other half of writing Spanish correctly.

Practise: test yourself

Complete the story

0/5

Choose the right form for each gap.

A message to Ana

Querida Ana Llego a Madrid el 3 de . Ya hablo bastante bien , pero mi amigo Tom es y no habla nada.

Gap 1 of 5

Spot the mistake

0/4

Tap the word with the wrong capital letter.

Pick the right one

0/6

Choose the correctly punctuated Spanish.

  1. How are you?

  2. It's so cold!

  3. If you come, will you let me know?

  4. What are you saying?! (a question and an exclamation)

  5. The start of a letter: Dear Juan

  6. He is Catholic: Es .

Fill in the blank

0/5

Write the missing word or figure as it is written in Spain. Capitals count here.

  1. Hablo . (Spanish, the language) (languages take a small letter)

    Capitals and punctuation count here - accents optional

  2. Nos vemos el . (Monday) (days take a small letter)

    Capitals and punctuation count here - accents optional

  3. Mi cumpleaños es en . (January) (months take a small letter)

    Capitals and punctuation count here - accents optional

  4. Mi amigo es . (English, his nationality) (nationalities take a small letter)

    Capitals and punctuation count here - accents optional

  5. La botella tiene litros. (three and a half, in figures, as in Spain) (Spain uses the decimal comma)

    Capitals and punctuation count here - accents optional

Chapters 1 and 2 free

This article is one lesson in a whole course

Every grammar point has its own article and drill, and the course wraps them in graded stories, games and printable worksheets, in the order you need them.

Chapters 1 and 2 free, forever. Plus: 7 days free, then $5 a month for all eleven languages.

Start learning free

Spanish · Free printables

Practice worksheets and infographics

Practice worksheets with answer keys built in, plus infographic and listicle formats. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

More grammar on this course

Frequently asked questions

Why does Spanish put an upside-down ¿ at the start of a question?
Because Spanish word order often gives no warning that a question is coming. (you' coming tomorrow) and ¿ ? (are you coming tomorrow?) differ only in the marks and the tone of voice. The opening ¿ tells the reader to start the questioning tone at once. It is compulsory in careful writing, even if people drop it in quick chat messages.
Do days and months really stay lowercase in Spanish?
Yes. Days (, ), months (, ) and seasons take a small letter unless they start a sentence: , . So do languages and nationalities ( , ) and religions ( ). Countries and cities keep their capital: , Madrid.
Where does the opening question mark go if the question is not the whole sentence?
At the start of the question itself. Whatever comes before it stays outside the marks: , ¿ ? (If you come, will you let me know?), Pedro, ¡ ! (Pedro, come here!). The word after the ¿ takes a small letter unless it starts the sentence.
Do Spanish speakers write 3,5 or 3.5?
Both, depending on the country. Spain and most of South America write the decimal with a comma, 3,5, and group thousands with a point or a space, 1.000 or 1 000. Mexico, much of Central America, and the Dominican Republic write 3.5 and 1,000, as in English. The accepts both decimal marks, and its 2010 Ortografía even recommends the point, for the sake of one international standard.
How do you start a letter or an email in Spanish?
With the greeting and a colon, not a comma: : (Dear Madam,) or Juan: (Dear Juan,). The text starts on the next line with a capital letter. A comma after the greeting is an English habit that Spanish style guides treat as a mistake.