Inverted question and exclamation marks - wikipedia Inverted question and exclamation marks `` ¡ '' redirects here. It is not to be confused with Temherte slaq. ¿ ¡ Inverted question mark Inverted exclamation mark Punctuation apostrophe ' ' brackets ( ) ( ) ( ) ⟨ ⟩ colon : comma, ، 、 dash ‒ -- -- ― ellipsis...... ⋯ ᠁ ฯ exclamation mark ! full stop, period. guillemets `` '' `` '' hyphen ‐ hyphen - minus - question mark ? quotation marks ' ' `` '' ' ' `` '' semicolon ; slash, stroke, solidus / ⁄ Word dividers interpunct space General typography ampersand & asterisk * at sign @ backslash \bullet caret dagger † ‡ degree ° ditto mark '' inverted exclamation mark ¡ inverted question mark ¿ komejirushi, kome, reference mark ※ number sign, pound, hash, octothorpe # numero sign No obelus ÷ multiplication sign × ordinal indicator o a percent, per mil % ‰ plus and minus + − equals sign = basis point ‱ pilcrow ¶ prime ′ '' ′′′ section sign § tilde ~ underscore, understrike _ vertical bar, pipe, broken bar ‖ ¦ Intellectual property copyright © sound - recording copyright ℗ registered trademark ® service mark SM trademark TM Currency currency sign ¤ currency symbols ؋ ​ ₳ ​ ฿ ​ ₿ ​ ₵ ​ ¢ ​ ₡ ​ ₢ ​ $ ​ ₫ ​ ₯ ​ ֏ ​ ₠ ​ € ​ ƒ ​ ₣ ​ ₲ ​ ₴ ​ ₭ ​ ₺ ​ ₾ ​ ₼ ​ M ​ ₥ ​ ₦ ​ ₧ ​ ₱ ​ ₰ ​ £ ​ 元 圆 圓 ​ ریال ​ ៛ ​ ₽ ​ ₹ Rs ​ ₪ ​ ৳ ​ ₸ ​ ₮ ​ ₩ ​ ¥ 円 Uncommon typography asterism ⁂ hedera ❧ index, fist ☞ interrobang ‽ irony punctuation ⸮ lozenge ◊ tie ⁀ Related Diacritics Logic symbols Whitespace characters In other scripts Chinese Hebrew Japanese Korean Portal Book Inverted question marks ( ¿ ) and exclamation marks ( Commonwealth English ) or exclamation points ( American English ) ( ¡ ) are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences ( or clauses ), respectively, in written Spanish and sometimes also in languages which have cultural ties with Spanish, such as in older standards of Galician ( now it is optional and not recommended ) and the Waray language. They can also be combined in several ways to express the combination of a question and surprise or disbelief. The initial marks are normally mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the common marks ( ?, ! ) used in most other languages. Unlike the ending marks, which are printed along the baseline of a sentence, the inverted marks ( ¿ and ¡ ) descend below the line. Inverted marks were originally recommended by the Real Academia Española ( Spanish Royal Academy ) in 1754, and adopted gradually over the next century. On computers, inverted marks are supported by various standards, including ISO - 8859 - 1, Unicode, and HTML. They can be entered directly on keyboards designed for Spanish - speaking countries, or via alternative methods on other keyboards. Contents 1 Usage 2 History 3 Mixtures of question marks and exclamation points 4 Computer usage 4.1 Encodings 4.2 Input methods 4.3 Input methods for macOS 4.4 Input methods for LaTeX 4.5 Use in filenames 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Usage Main article : Spanish orthography The inverted question mark ( ¿ ) is a punctuation mark written before the first letter of an interrogative sentence or clause to indicate that a question follows. It is an inverted form of the standard symbol `` ? '' recognized by speakers of languages written with the Latin alphabet. In most languages, a single question mark is used, and only at the end of an interrogative sentence : `` How old are you ? '' This was once true of the Spanish language. The inverted question mark was adopted long after the Real Academia 's decision, published in the second edition of the Ortografía de la lengua castellana ( Orthography of the Castilian language ) in 1754 recommending it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish -- e.g. ¿ Cuántos años tienes ? ( `` How old are you ? '' ). The Real Academia also ordered the same inverted - symbol system for statements of exclamation, using the symbols `` ¡ '' and `` ! ''. This helps to recognize questions and exclamations in long sentences. `` Do you like summer ? '' and `` You like summer. '' are translated respectively as `` ¿ Te gusta el verano ? '' and `` Te gusta el verano. '' ( There is no difference between the wording of a yes -- no question and the corresponding statement in Spanish as there is in English. ) These new rules were slowly adopted ; there exist nineteenth - century books in which the writer does not use either opening symbol, neither the `` ¡ '' nor the `` ¿ ''. In sentences that are both declarative and interrogative, the clause that asks a question is isolated with the starting - symbol inverted question mark, for example : Si no puedes ir con ellos, ¿ quieres ir con nosotros ? ( `` If you can not go with them, would you like to go with us ? '' ) Some writers omit the inverted question mark in the case of a short unambiguous question such as : Quién viene ? ( `` Who comes ? '' ). This is the criterion in Catalan. Certain Catalan - language authorities, such as Joan Solà, insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity. Some Spanish - language writers, among them Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda ( 1904 -- 1973 ), refuse to use the inverted question mark. It is common in Internet chat rooms and instant messaging now to use only the single `` ? '' as an ending symbol for a question, since it saves typing time. Multiple closing symbols are used for emphasis : Por qué dices eso ? ?, instead of the standard ¿ Por qué dices eso ? ( `` Why do you say that ? '' ). Some may also use the ending symbol for both beginning and ending, giving ? Por qué dices eso ? Given the informal setting, this might be unimportant ; however, teachers see this as a problem, fearing and claiming that contemporary young people are inappropriately and incorrectly extending the practice to academic homework and essays. ( See Internet linguistics : Educational perspective. ) History This article is missing information about how inverted punctuation came about in the languages of Spain. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. ( October 2014 ) In 1668, John Wilkins proposed using the inverted exclamation mark `` ¡ '' as a symbol at the end of a sentence to denote irony. He was one of many, including Desiderius Erasmus, who felt there was a need for such a punctuation mark, but Wilkins ' proposal, as was true of the other attempts, all failed to take hold. Mixtures of question marks and exclamation points Although it has now become rare, it is correct usage in Spanish to begin a sentence with an opening inverted exclamation mark ( `` ¡ '' ) and end it with a question mark ( `` ? '' ), or vice versa, for statements that are questions but also have a clear sense of exclamation or surprise such as : ¡ Y tú quién te crees ? ( `` Who do you think you are ? ! '' ). Normally, four signs are used, always with one type in the outer side and the other in the inner side ( nested ) ( ¿ ¡ Y tú quién te crees ! ?, ¡ ¿ Y tú quién te crees ? ! ) Unicode 5.1 also includes U + 2E18 ⸘ INVERTED INTERROBANG, which is an inverted version of the interrobang ( also known as a `` gnaborretni '' ), a nonstandard punctuation mark used to denote both excitement and a question in just one glyph. Computer usage Encodings `` ¡ '' and `` ¿ '' are both located within the Unicode Common block, and are both inherited from ISO - 8859 - 1. `` ¡ '' has Unicode codepoint U + 00A1 ( decimal entity reference & # 161 ; ) and HTML named entity reference &iexcl ;. `` ¿ '' has Unicode codepoint U + 00BF ( decimal entity reference & # 191 ; ) and has HTML named entity reference &iquest ;. In both cases, the `` i '' in the named entity reference is an initialism for `` inverted ''. Input methods The ¡ character is accessible using AltGr + 1 on a modern US - International keyboard. It is also available using a standard US keyboard by switching to the US - International keyboard layout. `` ¿ '' is available in all keyboard layouts for Spanish - speaking countries. Users of English ( US ) keyboards under Microsoft Windows can obtain the inverted question mark `` ¿ '' using the Alt code method by holding down the Alt key and pressing 0191, 6824, or 168 on the number pad and the inverted exclamation mark `` ¡ '' with number pad code 0161 or 173. In Microsoft Word, the inverted question and exclamation marks can be typed by holding down the Ctrl, Alt, and shift keys while typing a normal question or exclamation mark, or by typing either mark at the start of the sentence whilst in the Spanish language mode. Windows users with a US keyboard layout are able to switch to the US - International layout. Among other changes, this converts the Alt key to the right of the space bar into the Alt Gr ( graphics ) key. ( The left Alt key remains unchanged. ) When the right Alt key is held down and other keys are pressed, the combination produces other characters not found on the standard US keyboard. For instance, the keystroke right Alt + 1 produces an inverted exclamation mark, while right Alt + / yields the inverted question marks. Another way of inputting `` ¡ '' on Windows is to hold Alt and type 173 on the numeric keypad. Input methods for macOS On the macOS platform ( or when using the `` US International '' / us - intl keyboard layout on Windows and Linux ), `` ¡ '' and `` ¿ '' can be entered by pressing Alt / ⌥ Option + 1 and ⇧ Shift + Alt / ⌥ Option + / respectively. With a compose key, for example, < LEFT SHIFT > + < RIGHT CTRL >, they can be entered by pressing the compose key and ! or ? twice. And for AZERTY keyboards, the shortcut is : fn + alt + ! ( number 8 ). Input methods for LaTeX In LaTeX documents, the `` ¿ '' is written as ? ` ( question mark, backtick ) or \textquestiondown, and `` ¡ '' as ! ` ( exclamation point, backtick ) or \textexclamdown. ( This may require including `` \usepackage ( utf8 ) ( inputenc ) '' at the top of the document. ) XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX have full Unicode support, and literal ¿ and ¡ characters may be input. Use in filenames In Windows, an inverted question mark is valid in a file or directory name, whereas the normal is a reserved character which can not be so used. See also Spanish orthography Interrobang References Jump up ^ De Veyra, Vicente I. ( 1982 ). `` Ortograpiya han Binisaya ''. Kandabao : Essays on Waray language, literature, and culture. Jump up ^ `` Ediciones de la Ortografía Académica '' ( PDF ). Real Academia Española. Jump up ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans ( 1996 ), `` Els signes d'interrogació i d'admiració ( Acord de l'11 de juny de 1993 ) '', Documents de la Secció Filològica, III, pp. 92 -- 94 Jump up ^ Pablo Neruda, `` Antología Fundamental ''. ( 556 KB ), ( June 2008 ). ISBN 978 - 956 - 16 - 0169 - 7. p. 7 ( in Spanish ) Jump up ^ Keith Houston ( 24 September 2013 ). Shady Characters : The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks. W.W. Norton. p. 214. ISBN 978 - 0 - 393 - 24154 - 9. Jump up ^ Popova, Maria. `` Ironic Serif : A Brief History of Typographic Snark and the Failed Crusade for an Irony Mark ''. Brain Pickings. Retrieved 1 Sep 2014. Jump up ^ RAE 's Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas ( in Spanish ) Jump up ^ Character entity references in HTML 4, W3C. External links Upside Down Question Mark Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inverted_question_and_exclamation_marks&oldid=806801677 '' Categories : Spanish language Punctuation Interrogative words and phrases Catalan language Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from August 2017 Articles with Spanish - language external links All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017 Articles needing more detailed references Articles containing Spanish - language text Articles to be expanded from October 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Français עברית Português Русский ไทย Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 24 October 2017, at 07 : 00. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: when do you use an upside down question mark
Answer: used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences (or clauses), respectively, in written Spanish and sometimes also in languages which have cultural ties with Spanish, such as in older standards of Galician (now it is optional and not recommended) and the Waray language