Use of quotation marks
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One of the most important aspects when it comes to writing correctly in Spanish is knowing and knowing how to perfectly handle the orthographic signs that language makes available to us so that we can communicate in the best possible way. Some of the fundamental spelling signs are the following: the period (.), The comma (,), the colon (:) or the semicolon (;), among many others.
In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to focus our study on the uso of the quotation marks according to the RAE (","). To do this, we will study the different types of quotation marks that we can use as well as the spelling rules that we must follow when writing correctly in Spanish.
As we have briefly stated in the introduction to this lesson, quotation marks are a spelling sign that is used in Spanish to reproduce verbatim quotes from famous people or verbatim lines that other people have spoken in a previous conversation.
There are three different types of quotation marks:
- First of all, we have the English quotation marks (""), which are the best known and most used and which consist of two small lines that are placed at the top of the line, both at the beginning and at the end.
- Second, we have the single quotes (' ') that are formed with only a single line.
- Third and last are the calls Latin or Spanish quotation marks («») They have an angular shape, different from the previous two. These last quotation marks are usually used, as a general rule, in written texts.
In texts written on paper, it is advisable to first use the Latin or Spanish quotation marks, then the English quotation marks and, finally, the quotation marks simple, in an order ranging from the first to be quoted, which is the longest sentence, to the last to be quoted, which can be a single word.
In this other lesson we will discover the usage differences between quotes and italics.
You have to know that the quotes are written glued both to the first word and to the last and with a space in the middle between the end of the previous word and the place where the quotation marks begin. The uses of quotation marks are very varied and diverse.
Here we present you the most important uses you must know to write correctly in Spanish:
- By inserting a literal comment of a character within a referred or indirect speech: Juan told me yesterday that I was "the most beautiful woman he had ever seen", to point out that the words in quotes are exactly the same as the person said before.
- Within a narrative text, such as a novel for example, we use quotation marks to reproduce, for example, the thoughts of the characters, as it occurs to them at that moment: "I don't know what I'm going to do with my life" thought the boy as he walked in circles.
- When we want to use a vulgar word, rude or inappropriate or when the word comes from a language other than Spanish: The "boiserie" is the most beautiful thing in my grandparents' house.
- To use a word or term from metalinguistic way; In other words, to talk about a word from a linguistic point of view, we also use quotation marks: "Mesa" is a word that has two syllables me and sa.
- Another use of quotation marks is to cite title of an article, a chapter of a book or the name of a poem or a television program: The article "how to use quotes" has helped me a lot to write better in Spanish.
These are the main uses of quotation marks in Spanish. We hope it helps you improve your writing. You also have to keep in mind that, whatever quotes you use, they always have to be the same at the beginning and end of the sentence.
