Why does the spanish language use upside down exclamation points and question marks?

Answer 1

Spanish is different than English. The syntax of a sentence does not always tell you immediately

whether the sentence is a statement or a question, so using the inverted question mark

at the beginning warns you that a question is on the way and makes everybody's life easier.

Compare the following sentences and their Spanish versions.

There is a lemon tree in her backyard.

Is there a lemon tree in her backyard?

In English, the verb goes to the beginning in the question, so a question mark at the end is enough.

To Spanish now:

En el patio de su casa hay un limonero.

In Spanish the words stay where they are when asking the question, so that is why the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (the country's official institution in language matters) determined that two question marks were needed.

¿En el patio de su casa hay un limonero?

The same applies to exclamation marks. The inverted one at the beginning of the sentence lets you know that the speaker is expressing some kind of emotion whether surprise, anger, bewilderment or whatever.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

When you ask a quiestion in Spanish, many times the only difference between a statement and a question is in inflection. Example: Va a la escuela. - You are going to the school. ¿Va a la escuela? - Are you going to the school?

In order to know what inflection to use, you need to be "tipped off" at the beginning of the sentence, and that is the reason for the inverted question mark.

Answer 3

Like this: ¿

If you need it for typing up homework just copy and paste where you need it.

Answer 4

Yes, like these: ¡!