1.4 Punctuation and Capitalization

1. An inverted question mark is placed at the beginning of a sentence to indicate intonation:
   • ¿Estás listo?
   • Are you ready?
2. An inverted exclamation is placed before exclamations for the same reason:
   • ¡Qué bien hablan!
   • How well they speak
3. An initial dash is usually used instead of quotations marks to indicate dialogue:
   • -¿Vas o no vas?
   • “Are you going or not?
   • -No, me quedo aquí.
   • “No, I’m staying here.”
4. Spanish does not use capital letters in the following cases in which English does:

1. Days of the week:

• • • Hoy es viernes.
    • Today is Friday.

2. Months of the year:

• • • Mañana comienza abril.
    • April begins tomorrow.

3. Adjectives of nationality:

• • • Hugo es uruguayo.
    • Hugo is Uruguayan.

4. Names of languages:

• • • El húngaro no es fácil.
    • Hungarian is not easy.

5. Titles:

• • • El señor Sotomayor vino hoy.
    • Mr. Sotomayor came today.