How To Use Exclamations and Exclamation Marks in Spanish

As in English, an exclamation or exclamatory sentence in Spanish is a forceful utterance that can range from a single word to almost any sentence that is given extra emphasis, either by using a loud or urgent voice, or in writing by adding exclamation points. Types of Exclamations in Spanish However, in Spanish, it is very common for exclamations to take particular forms, the most common of which is starting with the exclamatory adjective or adverb quà ©. (Quà © also functions elsewhere as other parts of speech, most often as a pronoun.) When used that way, quà © can be followed by a noun, adjective, an adjective followed by a noun, or an adverb followed by a verb. When it is followed by a noun, an article is not used before the noun. Some examples:  ¡Quà © là ¡stima! (What a shame!) ¡Quà © problema! (What a problem!) ¡Quà © vista! (What a view!) ¡Quà © bonita! (How cute!) ¡Quà © difà ­cil! (How difficult!) ¡Quà © aburrido! (How tedious!) ¡Quà © fuerte hombre! (What a strong man!) ¡Quà © feo perro! (What an ugly dog!) ¡Quà © lejos està ¡ la escuela! (The school is so far away!) ¡Quà © maravillosamente toca la guitarra! (How beautifully she plays the guitar!) ¡Quà © rà ¡pido pasa el tiempo! (How time flies!) If you follow the noun after quà © with an adjective, mà ¡s or tan is added between the two words:  ¡Quà © vida mà ¡s triste! (What a sad life!) ¡Quà © aire mà ¡s puro! (What clean air!) ¡Quà © idea tan importante! (What an important idea!) ¡Quà © persona tan feliz! (What a happy person!) Note that the mà ¡s or tan doesnt have to be translated directly. When emphasizing quantity or extent, it also is common to begin an exclamation with cuà ¡nto or one of its variations for number or gender:  ¡Cuà ¡ntas araà ±as! (What a lot of spiders!) ¡Cuà ¡nto pelo tienes! (What a head of hair you have!) ¡Cuà ¡nta mantequilla! (What a lot of butter!) ¡Cuà ¡nto hambre hay en esta ciudad! (What a lot of hunger there is in this city!) ¡Cuà ¡nto he estudiado! (I studied a lot!) ¡Cuà ¡nto te quiero mucho! (I love you a lot!) Finally, exclamations arent limited to the above forms; it isnt even necessary to have a complete sentence.  ¡No puedo creerlo! (I cant believe it!) ¡No! (No!) ¡Policà ­a! (Police!) ¡Es imposible! (Its impossible!) ¡Ay! (Ouch!) ¡Es mà ­o! (Its mine!) ¡Ayuda! (Help!) ¡Eres loca! (Youre crazy!) Using Exclamation Points Although this rule is commonly violated in informal Spanish, especially in social media, Spanish exclamation marks always come in pairs, an inverted or upside-down exclamation point to open the exclamation and a standard exclamation point to end it. The use of such paired exclamation marks is straightforward when an exclamation stands alone, as in all the examples above, but it gets more complicated when only part of a sentence is exclamatory. The upside-down exclamation mark doesnt exist in languages other than Spanish and Galician, a minority language of Spain. When an exclamation is introduced by other words, the exclamation points surround only the exclamation, which isnt capitalized. Roberto,  ¡me encanta el pelo! (Roberto, I love your hair!)i gano el premio,  ¡yupi! (If I win the prize, yippee!) But when other words follow the exclamation, they are included inside the exclamation marks.  ¡Me encanto el pelo, Roberto! (I love your hair, Roberto.)Yupi si gano el premio! (Yippee if I win the prize!) If you have several short connected exclamations in a row, they can be treated as separate sentences or they can be separated with commas or semicolons. If theyre separated by commas or semicolons, the exclamations after the first arent capitalized.  ¡Hemos ganado!,  ¡guau!,  ¡me sorprende!(We won! Wow! Im surprised!) Special Uses of Exclamation Marks To indicate strong emphasis, you can use up to three consecutive exclamation points. The number of marks before and after the exclamation should match. Although such use of multiple exclamation points isnt used in standard English, it is acceptable in Spanish.  ¡Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ¡No lo quiero!!! (I dont want it!) ¡Ã‚ ¡Quà © asco!! (Thats disgusting!) As in informal English, a single exclamation mark can be placed within parentheses to indicate that something is surprising. Mi tà ­o tiene 43 (!) coches. (My uncle has 43 (!) cars.)La doctora se durmià ³ (!) durante la operacià ³n. (The doctor fell asleep (!) during the operation.) An exclamation mark can be combined with a question mark when a sentence expresses incredulity or otherwise combines elements of emphasis and questioning. The order doesnt matter, although the sentence should begin and end with the same type of mark.  ¡Ã‚ ¿Pedro dijo quà ©?! (Pedro said what?) ¿!Viste Catarina en la jaula!? (You saw Catarina in jail?) Key Takeaways As in English, exclamations in Spanish are sentences, phrases, or even single words that are especially forceful.It is common for Spanish exclamation to begin with quà © or a form of cuà ¡nto.Spanish exclamations begin with an inverted exclamation mark.