Hello!
Here're the basic punctuation rules for Spanish, from the US-GPO's Style Manual (March 1984 edition, page 445):
�PERIOD (.) and COMMA (,): Used about like in English.
�QUESTION (� ?) and EXCLAMATION (� !) MARKS: Demarcate questions and exclamations as in English�the difference here (in Spanish) is that the inverted forms (� �) begin such sentences, while the regular forms (? !) are found at the end of them.
�QUOTATION (� � � �) MARKS: These are only found (in Spanish) to reproduce texts, statements, and short quotes; for longer quotes and dialogue, introductory em-dashes are used instead.
�(EM-)DASHES (�): The em-dash (in Spanish) replaces the quotation marks (from English) in dialogue and longer quotations. An em-dash introduces each speaker's lines, as in this discourse by P�o Baroja (in Las Inquietudes De Shanti And�a), on that same page:
��Yo soy Juan de Aguirre, el marino, el hermano de su madre de usted, el que despareci�.
���Usted es Juan de Aguirre!
��S�.
���Mi t�o?
��El mismo.
���Y por qu� no hab�rmelo dicho antes!
�HYPHEN (-): Only for syllabification.
�APOSTROPHES (� �) usually aren't used in Spanish.
A suitable translation into English of the above discorse would also be very helpful. Thank You!
Robert Lloyd Wheelock
Augusta, ME USA
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