Free Spanish Lesson 40 – The Spanish question mark

Mucha gente ha preguntado, “What is the ‘¿’ sign at al principio of questions in Spanish?” It is officially called — Are you ready for the technical term? — the “upside-down question mark.” It is placed al principio of any Spanish oración that is una pregunta.

Vocabulario semanal – Weekly Vocabulary

mucha gente ha preguntado – many people have asked

al principio – at the beginning

oración – sentence

una pregunta – a question

mucha gente piensa – many people think

en realidad – actually (in reality)

que tiene mucho sentido – that it makes a lot of sense

en el idioma de inglés – in the English language

porque necesitaría – why you would need

una oración – a sentence

en voz alta – aloud

o párrafos – or paragraphs

más de una vez – more than once

el problema fue que – the problem was that

una pregunta – a question

ridículo – rediculous

a usted – to you

es o nunca pasa – that never happens

desde el comienzo – from the start

vergüenza – embarrassment

me encanta – I love

tal vez con este boletín – maybe with this newsletter

llame a su senador – call your senator

para que podamos evitar – so that we can avoid (subjunctive tense)

para siempre – forever

y espero que – and (I) hope that

boletín – newsletter

que yo tengo – that I have

Mucha gente piensa, “Why in the world does Spanish have an upside down question mark?” En realidad, you’ll see as we talk about it, que tiene mucho sentido. You may even want to petition the peo ple that make English grammar rules and get them to put an upside-down question mark en el idioma de inglés.

Let me explain porque necesitaría an upside-down question mark at the beginning of una oración and how it could help you. When I was in High School English class, we read quite a few short stories and plays en voz alta. The whole class would follow along and students would take turns reading different parts o párrafos.

I remember más de una vez, when I was reading a long paragraph, all of a sudden, I would get to the end and realize there was a question mark there. El problema fue que I had read the whole párrafo as if it were a statement. I would then try to compensate and make my voice change at the last minute so it sounded like una pregunta. I know I must have sounded ridículo trying to change my voice at the last minute and I was always a bit embarrassed when this would happen.

Has that ever happened a usted?

With the upside-down question mark, eso nunca pasa in Spanish because you see that a sentence is a question desde el comienzo! No more embarrassing “end of sentence voice change to compensate for question marks” phobia or vergüenza.

Me encanta the Spanish language and all the cool little things they have like the “upside-down question mark.” Tal vez con este boletín, we can start a grass-roots effort to change the English language and add the “upside-down question mark”! Llame a su senador or parliament representative today, or maybe even forward them this e-mail para que podamos evitar “end of sentence voice change to compensate for question mark” phobia and vergüenza para siempre!

Anyway, if you can’t tell, me encanta the Spanish language y espero que through this boletín and by learning Spanish with our Visual Link Spanish™ course, you gain the same love for it que yo tengo.

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Written by David S. Clark President/Director, U.S. Institute of Languages. Copyright © 1999-2010 US Institute of Languages All rights reserved.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.