Question and Exclamation Marks
A Galician question ends with ? and an exclamation ends with !: Como te chamas?, Que bonito! The opening marks ¿ and ¡ are optional.
How It Works
The closing mark is enough. The Galician standard marks a question with ? and an exclamation with ! at the end of the words they cover: Onde vives? (Where do you live?), Que frío! (How cold!). Short questions and exclamations are almost always written this way.
The opening mark is a reading aid. The standard allows ¿ and ¡ "to make reading easier and avoid ambiguity". They help most in a long sentence, where the reader would otherwise reach the end before knowing it was a question. Both of these are correct:
- Se mañá non chove, vés comigo á praia?
- Se mañá non chove, ¿vés comigo á praia?
Put the opening mark where the question starts. In the sentence above, the question is vés comigo á praia?, so a ¿ goes right before vés, after the comma. The same applies to a name at the start: Uxía, ¿onde estás?
No accent on question words. Spanish writes ¿Cómo? and ¿Dónde?, but Galician question words such as como, onde, que and quen never take a written accent in direct questions or exclamations: Como te chamas? See Question Words.
Questions without a question word are shown by the mark and your rising voice: see Yes/No Questions. For exclamations that start with que, see Exclamations With Que.
Examples (6)
- Como te chamas?
What is your name?
Word by Word: How yourself call?
Only the closing ? is needed, and como has no accent.
- Que bonito!
How pretty!
An exclamation ends with ! and needs no opening mark.
- Onde vives?
Where do you live?
- Que frío fai hoxe!
It is so cold today!
Word by Word: What cold makes today!
- Uxía, onde estás?
Uxía, where are you?
The name comes first. If you add ¿, it goes after the comma: Uxía, ¿onde estás?
- Se mañá non chove, ¿vés comigo á praia?
If it does not rain tomorrow, will you come with me to the beach?
In a long sentence, the optional ¿ shows where the question begins.
Common Mistakes
Leaving out the closing question mark.
Onde vives.Onde vives?The closing ? is required. The opening ¿ is the optional one, so never drop the mark at the end.
Writing the opening mark and leaving out the closing one.
¡Que frío fai hoxeQue frío fai hoxe!The closing ! is the mark Galician needs. The opening ¡ can only be added to it; it never replaces it.
Adding a Spanish-style accent to the question word.
Cómo te chamas?Como te chamas?Galician question words (como, onde, que, quen, cando) do not take a written accent in direct questions.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- Yes/No Questions
A yes/no question has no question word, so the ? and your intonation carry it.
Level 1 - que / quen / onde / cando / comoQuestion Words
The question words that usually open a Galician question, all written without an accent.
Level 1 - que + Adjective!Exclamations with Que
The most common exclamation pattern, closed with !.
Level 2 - home! / ai! / ollo!Interjections
Interjections are written with a closing ! as well.
Level 3 - non? / verdade?Tag Questions
Tag questions add a short question, with its own ?, after a statement.
Level 3 - Written Accent Rules
The general accent rules explain why question words stay unaccented.
Level 1
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Question and Exclamation Marks in Bubblegum
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