# Punctuation

https://langs123.com/en/spanish/escritura/puntuacion/
CEFR B2–C2 · 2026-10-19 · CC BY 4.0, langs123 contributors (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

> Punctuation marks divide a text and show how its parts relate: the full stop, comma, colon, quotation marks and dash. A non-defining relative clause goes between two commas: Mi vecina, que es médica, me ayudó.

## Cheatsheet

| Point | Rule | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Full stop | a paragraph ends with a full stop; the next one opens with an indent | Aquí termina el primer tema. | The first topic ends here. |
| Comma | two commas enclose an aside, a clarification or a non-defining relative clause | El viaje, dice Marta, será largo. | The journey, says Marta, will be long. |
| Colon | they introduce a list or a quotation; they close an enumeration | El curso tiene tres partes: gramática, escritura y lectura. / Pan, queso, aceitunas: eso era toda la cena. | The course has three parts: grammar, writing and reading. / Bread, cheese, olives: that was the whole dinner. |
| Semicolon | it separates clauses that already contain commas, and clauses with the verb left out | Mi tía, muy cansada, se sentó; llevaba horas de pie. / Ana es abogada; Luis, ingeniero. | My aunt, very tired, sat down; she had been on her feet for hours. / Ana is a lawyer; Luis, an engineer. |
| Ellipsis | they leave a sentence unfinished; [...] marks an omission in a quotation | Si hubiera llegado antes... | If I had arrived earlier... |
| Quotation marks and dash | quotation marks nest in the order « », “ ”, ‘ ’; the dash encloses asides and opens dialogue | Luis dijo: «Ana gritó “¡Gol!”». / El cambio —que llegó rápido— nos sorprendió. | Luis said: ‘Ana shouted “Goal!”’. / The change – which came quickly – surprised us. |
| Comma | a fronted subordinate clause ends with a comma | Si tuviera tiempo, te ayudaría. | If I had time, I would help you. |
| Colon and semicolon | a colon explains; a semicolon comes before sin embargo | La paella es valenciana: lleva arroz y azafrán. / Trabajó todo el día; sin embargo, aceptó salir. | Paella comes from Valencia: it has rice and saffron. / He worked all day; however, he agreed to go out. |
| Other marks | an asterisk precedes the incorrect form; the full stop follows the note number | *Me alegro que hayas ido. ≠ Me alegro de que hayas ido. | I am glad you went. |
| Colon | they introduce the cause or the consequence of what was said | No salimos: llovía mucho. / Perdió el vuelo: durmió en el aeropuerto. | We did not go out: it was raining hard. / He missed his flight: he slept at the airport. |
| Other marks | slashes enclose phonemes and separate lines of verse; an apostrophe appears in foreign surnames | El fonema /t/ es dental. · Bernardo O’Higgins | The phoneme /t/ is dental. · Bernardo O’Higgins |
| Trap | titles and the place-and-date line of a letter end without a full stop | Lima, 10 de mayo de 2026 | Lima, 10 May 2026 |

## Overview

- Punctuation marks divide a text and show how its parts relate. Llegamos tarde; sin embargo, vimos la película. — We arrived late; however, we saw the film.
- The opening marks ¿ and ¡: see The Alphabet and Spelling.
- The non-defining relative clause: see Relative Clauses.

## The full stop

| Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The punto y aparte ends a paragraph; the next paragraph starts on a new line, indented. | Con esto termina el primer tema. | This ends the first topic. |
| The place-and-date line of a letter ends without a full stop. | Lima, 10 de mayo de 2026 | Lima, 10 May 2026 |
| A headline, a title and a chapter heading end without a full stop. | La selección gana el torneo / Cien años de soledad | The national team wins the tournament / One Hundred Years of Solitude |
| The full stop goes before the superscript letter of an abbreviation. | Saluda a D.ª Marta. / Vivo en el 2.º piso. | Say hello to Doña Marta. / I live on the second floor. |

## The comma

| Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| An aside that says who is speaking goes between two commas. | El viaje, dice Marta, será largo. | The journey, says Marta, will be long. |
| A clarification with es decir takes a comma before and another after. | Vive cerca, es decir, a diez minutos a pie. | He lives nearby, that is, ten minutes away on foot. |
| A comment by the speaker goes between two commas. | El agua, como todos sabemos, es vital. | Water, as we all know, is vital. |
| An adverb that modifies the whole sentence is followed by a comma. | Lamentablemente, el tren ya salió. | Unfortunately, the train has already left. |
| A non-defining relative clause goes between two commas. | Mi abuela, que vive en Cali, nos visita hoy. | My grandmother, who lives in Cali, is visiting us today. |
| A comma takes the place of an omitted verb. | Mi casa es antigua; la de Luis, moderna. | My house is old; Luis's, modern. |
| A surname written before the first name is followed by a comma. | Rivera, Diego / Kahlo, Frida | Rivera, Diego / Kahlo, Frida |
| Commas between the options of an alternative question stress it. | ¿Cenas con nosotros, te quedas en casa, o tienes otro plan? | Are you having dinner with us, staying at home, or do you have another plan? |
| A comma before y sets off a clause that is not part of the preceding series. | Compramos pan y leche, y luego volvimos a casa. | We bought bread and milk, and then we went back home. |
| A subordinate clause that opens the sentence ends with a comma. | Si tuviera tiempo, te ayudaría. / Como llovía, nos quedamos en casa. / Para que lo sepas, lo hice yo. | If I had time, I would help you. / As it was raining, we stayed at home. / Just so you know, I did it. |
| A subordinate clause that follows the main clause joins it without a comma. | Te ayudaría si tuviera tiempo. | I would help you if I had time. |
| An absolute construction is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma. | Terminada la clase, salimos al patio. / Sabiendo la hora, se levantó. | Class finished, we went out to the yard. / Knowing the time, he got up. |

## The colon and the semicolon

| Mark | Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| colon | It announces an outline or a list. | El curso tiene tres partes: gramática, escritura y lectura. | The course has three parts: grammar, writing and reading. |
| colon | It announces a literary quotation. | Machado escribió: «Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar». | Machado wrote: ‘Traveller, there is no road; the road is made by walking.’ |
| colon | It closes an enumeration before the pronoun that sums it up. | Pan, queso, aceitunas: eso era toda la cena. | Bread, cheese, olives: that was the whole dinner. |
| colon | It marks an emphatic pause before what is about to be said. | Ahora bien: hay que decidir hoy. | Now then: we must decide today. |
| colon | It introduces an explanation. | La paella es un plato valenciano: lleva arroz, pollo y verduras. | Paella is a dish from Valencia: it has rice, chicken and vegetables. |
| colon | It follows the performative verb of a legal or administrative text, and the formula starts with a capital letter. | CERTIFICA: Que la alumna Ana Ruiz ha aprobado el curso. | CERTIFIES: That the student Ana Ruiz has passed the course. |
| colon | It introduces the cause of what was said. | No salimos: llovía mucho. | We did not go out: it was raining hard. |
| colon | It introduces the consequence or the summary of what was said. | Perdió el vuelo: tuvo que dormir en el aeropuerto. | He missed his flight: he had to sleep at the airport. |
| semicolon | It separates two parallel clauses when the second leaves out the verb. | Ana es abogada; Luis, ingeniero. | Ana is a lawyer; Luis, an engineer. |
| semicolon | It separates clauses that already contain commas. | Mi tía, muy cansada, se sentó; llevaba horas de pie. | My aunt, very tired, sat down; she had been on her feet for hours. |
| semicolon | It comes before a long clause that begins with pero, mas, aunque, sin embargo or por tanto. | Trabajó todo el día en casa y en la oficina; sin embargo, aceptó la invitación de inmediato. | He worked all day at home and in the office; however, he accepted the invitation at once. |

## Ellipsis, parentheses and square brackets

| Mark | Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ellipsis | It leaves a sentence or a quotation unfinished. | Si hubiera llegado antes... | If I had arrived earlier... |
| ellipsis | Inside square brackets, it shows what is left out of a quotation. | El texto dice: «Los alumnos entregarán el trabajo [...] antes del viernes». | The text says: ‘The students will hand in the work [...] before Friday.’ |
| ellipsis | It combines with other marks: the closing mark goes after the three dots. | ¿Y si no viene...? / ¡Es que eres un...! | And what if he does not come...? / It is just that you are such a...! |
| parentheses | They show both forms of a word, masculine and feminine. | Apreciado(a) vecino(a): | Dear neighbour, |
| parentheses | They enclose a question mark or an exclamation mark that expresses doubt or irony. | Dice que es el más trabajador (?) del grupo. / Ganó el premio por sus méritos (!). | He says he is the hardest worker (?) in the group. / He won the prize on his merits (!). |
| parentheses | They enclose the stage directions of a play. | MARTA. Entra, por favor. (Abre la puerta.) | MARTA. Come in, please. (She opens the door.) |
| square brackets | They enclose a detail inside parentheses. | La autora publicó varios libros (por ejemplo, Lluvia [2004]). | The author published several books (for example, Lluvia [2004]). |

## Quotation marks, hyphen and dash

| Mark | Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| quotation marks | They nest in this order: angle marks « », English double marks “ ” and single marks ‘ ’. | Luis contó: «El profesor dijo: “Lean el poema ‘Otoño’ en casa”». | Luis said: ‘The teacher said: “Read the poem ‘Autumn’ at home”’. |
| quotation marks | They enclose the title of an article or a lecture. | Leí «La ciudad del futuro» en el periódico. | I read ‘The City of the Future’ in the newspaper. |
| quotation marks | They enclose the name of a ship, a cinema or a restaurant. | Cenamos en «La Parrilla». | We had dinner at ‘La Parrilla’. |
| hyphen | It joins two elements that form a relation or a compound. | la relación calidad-precio / un acuerdo hispano-francés | the quality-price ratio / a Spanish-French agreement |
| dash | It encloses an aside and is written close against it. | El cambio —que llegó muy rápido— nos sorprendió. | The change – which came very quickly – surprised us. |
| dash | It opens each turn of a dialogue and separates it from the narrator's comment. | —Mañana llego tarde —dijo Marta. | ‘I will be late tomorrow,’ said Marta. |
| quotation marks | The question marks and exclamation marks of the quotation go inside the quotation marks. | Y entonces dijo: «¡Qué susto me diste!» | And then he said: ‘What a fright you gave me!’ |
| quotation marks | They enclose the word that is being discussed. | El verbo «caber» es irregular. | The verb ‘caber’ is irregular. |
| hyphen | A prefix joins its base without a hyphen. | una crema antiarrugas / un líquido anticongelante | an anti-wrinkle cream / an antifreeze liquid |
| dash | After the closing dash come the comma, full stop, semicolon or colon that the sentence needs. | —Cuando lleguemos —dijo Marta—, te llamo. | ‘When we arrive,’ said Marta, ‘I will call you.’ |
| quotation marks | They mark a word that is improper, ironic or vulgar. | Ese «experto» no sabe nada. / Mi tío llama «chamba» a su trabajo. | That ‘expert’ knows nothing. / My uncle calls his job ‘chamba’. |
| quotation marks | They enclose a nickname between the first name and the surname. | Antonio «el Flaco» Soto ganó la carrera. | Antonio ‘el Flaco’ Soto won the race. |
| hyphen | It marks a prefix, a suffix or a syllable on its own. | El prefijo des- y el sufijo -ción forman palabras nuevas. | The prefix des- and the suffix -ción form new words. |

## Other marks

| Mark | Use | Example | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| asterisk | It goes before an incorrect form in a text about language. | *Me alegro que hayas ido. ≠ Me alegro de que hayas ido. | I am glad you went. |
| superscript number | The full stop goes after the superscript number of a note. | Esta teoría aparece en su primer libro¹. | This theory appears in the author's first book¹. |
| slash | It separates the number and the year in the citation of a law or a decree. | Consulta el decreto 5/2005 en la oficina. | Check decree 5/2005 at the office. |
| slash | It separates the lines of verse in a quotation written on one line. | Volverán las oscuras golondrinas / en tu balcón sus nidos a colgar. | The dark swallows will return / to hang their nests on your balcony. |
| slash | It encloses a phoneme. | El fonema /t/ es dental. | The phoneme /t/ is dental. |
| square brackets | An opening bracket goes before the part of a line of verse that continues on the next line. | Las nubes cruzan el cielo, lentas, y [callan | The clouds cross the sky, slowly, and [fall silent |
| square brackets | They enclose a phonetic transcription. | La palabra casa se pronuncia [ˈkasa]. | The word casa is pronounced [ˈkasa]. |
| square brackets and curly brackets | In a mathematical operation, square brackets enclose the parentheses and curly brackets enclose the square brackets. | {3 + [4 × (5 − 1)]} | {3 + [4 × (5 − 1)]} |
| curly brackets | They group the items of a table or an outline. | Presente de ser: {soy, eres, es} | Present of ser: {soy, eres, es} |
| diaeresis | In poetry, it splits a diphthong to count one more syllable. | El poeta escribe süave para ganar una sílaba. | The poet writes süave to gain a syllable. |
| apostrophe | It appears in surnames of foreign origin. | Bernardo O’Higgins nació en Chile. | Bernardo O’Higgins was born in Chile. |
| apostrophe | It marks the missing letter in a transcribed colloquial contraction. | ¿Pa’ qué quieres eso? | What do you want that for? |

## Typical errors

| ✗ | ✓ | Rule |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mi vecina que es médica me ayudó. | Mi vecina, que es médica, me ayudó. | a non-defining relative clause goes between two commas |
| Lamentablemente el tren ya salió. | Lamentablemente, el tren ya salió. | an adverb that modifies the whole sentence is followed by a comma |
| Lima, 10 de mayo de 2026. | Lima, 10 de mayo de 2026 | the place-and-date line of a letter ends without a full stop |
| Luis dijo: «Ana gritó «¡Gol!» en casa». | Luis dijo: «Ana gritó “¡Gol!” en casa». | English double marks go inside angle marks |
| Si tuviera tiempo te ayudaría. | Si tuviera tiempo, te ayudaría. | a subordinate clause that opens the sentence ends with a comma |
| Una crema anti-arrugas. | Una crema antiarrugas. | a prefix joins its base without a hyphen |
| —Cuando lleguemos —dijo Marta— te llamo. | —Cuando lleguemos —dijo Marta—, te llamo. | the sentence's comma follows the closing dash |
| Saluda a Dª Marta. | Saluda a D.ª Marta. | the full stop goes before the superscript letter |
| Terminada la clase salimos al patio. | Terminada la clase, salimos al patio. | an absolute construction is set off by a comma |