Questions and the inverted marks
A question opens with ¿ and closes with ?. The upside-down mark is not decoration: from the first character the reader knows where the sentence is heading. Exclamations take the same pair, ¡ and !. For example: “¿Cómo te llamas?” — What's your name?. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
A question opens with ¿ and closes with ?. The upside-down mark is not decoration: from the first character the reader knows where the sentence is heading. Exclamations take the same pair, ¡ and !.
Word order stays put. English swaps the verb forward or drags in 'do'. Spanish leaves the statement as it is, and the marks and the voice carry the question. ¿Tú hablas español? is perfectly normal.
By example
- ¿Cómo te llamas?What's your name?
- ¿Dónde está la estación?Where's the station?
- ¡Qué rico!How tasty!
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Questions and the inverted marks: how does it work in Spanish?
A question opens with ¿ and closes with ?. The upside-down mark is not decoration: from the first character the reader knows where the sentence is heading. Exclamations take the same pair, ¡ and !.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“¿Cómo te llamas?” — What's your name?. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.