The Spanish Question Mark

[MrPixel]

¿Yo quiero Taco Bell?

I'm not a polyglot by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm nonetheless curious. Is the inverted question mark at the beginning of an inquiry in Spanish unique to that language? I think it may be in Portugese, but not sure.

I think it's a very useful tool. I found myself writing a long question sentence, almost a run-on, and forgot the question mark, even though the sentence started with "What if...". As a reader it would, to me, be useful to flag the sentence as an inquiry right at the start.

¿Am I nuts? (Don't answer that.) ¿Or is this a "just is?"

 

[TheLobster]

It exists in Spanish because there is no other way there to ask a yes/no question. For consistency, the requirement to put the inverted question mark has been extended to all questions.

English does yes/no questions through inversion. Other languages do it through operator words. Neither requires an extra punctuation mark.

 

[Comentarista82]

¿Yo quiero Taco Bell?

I'm not a polyglot by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm nonetheless curious. Is the inverted question mark at the beginning of an inquiry in Spanish unique to that language? I think it may be in Portugese, but not sure.

I think it's a very useful tool. I found myself writing a long question sentence, almost a run-on, and forgot the question mark, even though the sentence started with "What if...". As a reader it would, to me, be useful to flag the sentence as an inquiry right at the start.

¿Am I nuts? (Don't answer that.) ¿Or is this a "just is?"

I will tell you it exists strictly in Spanish to show the reader the question's coming, as does the inverted exclamation (¡).

I'd looked at every example I could find over the years, consulted the most authoritative sources and reached that conclusion. I even consulted a former Einstein-level brilliant professor that's also a world-renowned poetry critic/expert on Hispanic poetry (from Spain and other places) and he said "I've never found any other explanation." The guy's a world-class grammarian to boot, so if he couldn't find another answer with all his resources...no one else would have a chance.

Spanish does give extra syntactical flexibility in questions, though. A writer could pen this:

¿Juan está cansado? Is Juan tired, but emphasizing Juan more OR
¿Está cansado Juan? same translation BUT emphasizing the "tired" more, adding nuance.

 

[Escierto]

It exists in Spanish because there is no other way there to ask a yes/no question. For consistency, the requirement to put the inverted question mark has been extended to all questions.

English does yes/no questions through inversion. Other languages do it through operator words. Neither requires an extra punctuation mark.

French does inversion as well. No such animal in Spanish.

 

[Comentarista82]

This search reminds me many times over why Google can be our friend and this proves multitudinous ways (in English...if you want to read the Diccionario General de la Lengua Española entries on it, be my guest) how much inversion exists in Spanish (a few I listed above):

In Spanish, inversion, or the switching of the typical subject-verb order, is a common grammatical feature used in questions and for emphasis. It's more flexible than in English, particularly in questions where the subject can be placed after the verb.

Here's a breakdown of how inversion works in Spanish:

1. In Questions:

• Wh-questions: When asking questions with interrogative words (qué, quién, cómo, cuándo, dónde, por qué), the subject usually follows the verb, creating a verb-subject order.
  
  • Example: "Dormiste bien?" (Did you sleep well?)
    
• Yes/No questions: While not mandatory, the subject can also be placed after the verb in yes/no questions for emphasis.
  
  • Example: "¿Llega Ana mañana?" (Is Ana arriving tomorrow?)
    
• Embedded questions: Subject-verb inversion is obligatory in embedded questions in Spanish.
  

2. For Emphasis:

• Spanish allows for the verb to precede the subject in declarative sentences, often for emphasis or stylistic effect.
  
  
• This inversion can be applied to various verbs, not just auxiliary verbs like in English.
  
  
• Example: "De repente me escuchó mi madre" (Suddenly, my mother heard me)
  

3. In Conditional Clauses:

• In conditional sentences, the "if" clause can be placed before or after the main clause without changing the meaning, similar to English.
• Example: "Si como más, voy a vomitar" (If I eat more, I will vomit) or "Voy a vomitar si como más" (I will vomit if I eat more)
  

4. Other Uses:

• Inversion can also be used to express how an action is done or when an action happens simultaneously with another.
• Example: "Bajé las escaleras corriendo" (I went down the stairs running)
  

In summary, Spanish exhibits a greater degree of flexibility with inversion than English, particularly in questions and for stylistic emphasis. The verb can often precede the subject without grammatical error, and this feature is commonly used to add nuance and effect to sentences.

 

[StillStunned]

I can't help reading the thread title as "The Spanish Inquisition Mark".

 

[XerXesXu]

English and Spanish are inflected differently, and Spanish has more inflections that indicate a question. At the end of a grammatically well-formed sentence, which begins with an interrogative aspirate or subject/auxiliary verb inversion the English question mark is redundant. Where a statement is inflected and would be understood as a question if spoken, the question mark is necessary to indicate it's a question when written. Rationally it should go at the beginning of the statement, as in Spanish. Many formal rules of punctuation in many languages are arbitrary and irrational.

 

[TheLobster]

I can't help reading the thread title as "The Spanish Inquisition Mark".

It’s gotta be some kind of logical paradox because I totally expected that.

 

[Comentarista82]

I can't help reading the thread title as "The Spanish Inquisition Mark".

Not unrealistic by any means, since historical documents record the Spanish Inquisition logged a 58% confession rate and its methods were brutal.

 

[MrPixel]

Not the comfy chair!

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Maldita sea... I feel ashamed that all of you know more about my native tongue than me. As far as I know, this symbol ("¿") isn't called an inverted question mark, but an opening question mark (or signo de interrogación abierto in Spanish), and all I know is that it's used to let someone know that a question is coming. The same goes for this symbol ("¡"). It's called opening exclamation mark (or signo de exclamación abierto in Spanish, though some of the older people in my country refer to it with the word admiración [admiration] rather than exclamación), and has a similar function.

I can't help reading the thread title as "The Spanish Inquisition Mark".

Well, to be fair, the OP was inquisitive and @StillStunned about us having opening and closing question marks, aside from opening and closing exclamation marks.

 

[Comentarista82]

It’s gotta be some kind of logical paradox because I totally expected that.

**User "Torquemada" views thread**