# exclamation/interrogation marks?



## Gringuita Latina

Hola tots,

Does Catalan use the same inverted exclamation/interrogation marks as Castillian? Ie. ¡ ! ¿ ?
(Sorry I am very much a beginner!)
Moltes gracies


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## ampurdan

Normally, we don't use them, but when the question or the exclamation is longer than a line, you can use them to indicate that you are doing a question and you should intonate accordingly (we don't have subject-verb inversion because we don't have to make the subject pronoun explicit).


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## Gringuita Latina

Ah, moltes gracies Ampurdan! This is for an academic piece of writing and some of the exclamations are longer than a line, so would it be most correct to put them in?


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## ampurdan

I would put them in.


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## Phiera

Ampurdan are you sure about it?
I always thought that in Catalan we just use one mark, even in the long sentences.
I would like to know it, because I am starting to lose the rules, it has been a long time since I left the general school...
(sorry for my English...I am still working on it!)


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## Mei

Hi there:

I always put them at the end of a sentence if it's necessary. 

Cheers

Mei


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## Cecilio

If the sentence is short, like "Com estàs?" I would only use the one at the end, but with longer sentences I feel it's better to use both. As far as I know, the use of "¿" is considered optional in Catalan. Of course, there are some people who think it shouldn't be used at all.


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## panjabigator

In my Catalan class, I learned that interrogatory marks are written at the end of a statement and not in the beginning.


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## Mei

panjabigator said:


> In my Catalan class, I learned that interrogatory marks are written at the end of a statement and not in the beginning.



Yes but if the sentence is too large you can put the interrogatory mark at the beginning, Cecilio is right. 

Salut!

Mei


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## panjabigator

I see...that way I can make sure my intonation is correct, veritat?


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## Mei

panjabigator said:


> I see...that way I can make sure my intonation is correct, veritat?



Exacte.


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## Dixie!

Just in long sentences, like somebody said, but personally I never use both, just one interrogation mark at the end of the line.


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