Inverted Question Mark Symbol
The inverted question mark ¿ is used to open Spanish and some other languages’ questions.
U+00BF
The inverted question mark (¿) marks the beginning of a question. It’s widely used in Spanish orthography and can appear in digital text anywhere Unicode is supported. Below you’ll find copy-friendly forms and common uses.
Inverted Question Mark Symbol Meaning
The inverted question mark ¿ is punctuation used to indicate that a question is starting. In Spanish, it typically appears at the beginning of interrogative sentences, with a matching standard question mark ? at the end. This gives readers a clear cue about sentence type even before reaching the end. In English and many other languages, you may see ¿ used stylistically in quotes, headlines, or informal writing to add emphasis or a “Spanish-like” tone, but the grammatical convention is not universal. In computing, it is the single Unicode character U+00BF and can be entered and copied directly.
Common uses
- •Opening a question in Spanish text (paired with “?” at the end)
- •Writing multilingual UI prompts where Spanish is supported
- •Creating subtitles, captions, or chat messages that include Spanish questions
- •Designing typographic compositions that need accurate Spanish punctuation
- •Expressing emphasis or stylized questioning in informal posts
Examples
¿ Inverted Question Mark (U+00BF)
- ¿¿Cómo estás?
- ¿¿Quieres ver el menú?
- ¿No sé: ¿es hoy?
- ¿¿Dónde queda la estación?
- ¿¿Te gusta este color?
Variations
Ready to copy
Technical codes
| Unicode | U+00BF | |
| HTML Entity | ¿ | |
| HTML Code | ¿ | |
| CSS | \00BF |
FAQ
What does the Inverted Question Mark symbol mean?
The inverted question mark ¿ is punctuation used to indicate that a question is starting. In Spanish, it typically appears at the beginning of interrogative sentences, with a matching standard question mark ? at the end. This gives readers a clear cue about sentence type even before reaching the end. In English and many other languages, you may see ¿ used stylistically in quotes, headlines, or informal writing to add emphasis or a “Spanish-like” tone, but the grammatical convention is not universal. In computing, it is the single Unicode character U+00BF and can be entered and copied directly.
Is the inverted question mark used only in Spanish?
It is most commonly associated with Spanish, where it opens a question and is usually paired with the standard question mark. You may also see it used stylistically in other contexts, but the Spanish convention is the primary one.
Do I need a matching “?” at the end in Spanish?
In standard Spanish writing, yes: you typically use ¿ at the start and ? at the end of the interrogative sentence.
What is the Unicode code point for ¿?
The inverted question mark character is Unicode U+00BF.
How can I type ¿ on a keyboard?
It depends on your keyboard and OS. The most reliable method for copy/paste is to copy it from this page, or use the provided Unicode/HTML/CSS/JavaScript escapes in code.