How Do You Type the Spanish Upside-Down Question Mark?

¿Do you know how to type an inverted or upside-down question mark? ¿Are you tired of copying and pasting them from search results? If so, this wikiHow is here to help. Whether you’re on a computer, mobile device, or tablet, we’ve got you covered with solutions for all of your upside-down question mark needs.

Upside Down Question Marks: An Overview

PC: Use the code Alt + 168 (or alternatively Alt + 0191 or Alt + 6824).
Mac: Use the keyboard shortcut Option + Shift + ?.
Microsoft Word: Use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + /.
Google Docs: Select Insert > Special characters and pick the ¿ symbol from the menu.

Section 1 of 10:

Copy + Paste the Upside Down Question Mark

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¿ Copy and paste the upside-down question mark above for an easy solution. Use your mouse to highlight the “¿” symbol, then copy it, head to the document you want to type it in, and paste it. In a pinch, you can also search “upside-down question mark” in a web browser.
- PC: Use Ctrl + C to copy and Ctrl + V to paste.
- Mac: Use Command + C to copy and Command + V to paste.

Section 2 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark on Windows

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1
Use codes Alt + 0191, Alt + 168, or Alt + 6824. Alt codes are the easiest way to type a “¿” symbol on a PC. Hold down Alt on the bottom of your keyboard. As you hold it down, type one of the following codes: “0191,” “168,” or “6824.” You’ll see the upside-down question mark appear on your screen. More shortcode information includes:^{[1]
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- Unicode: U+00BF
- HTML Code: ¿
- HEX Code: ¿
- HTML Entity: iquest;
- CSS Code: \u00BF
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Switch to an international keyboard for easy access. Navigate to Settings or the taskbar in the bottom-right corner of your PC screen. Then, select Time & language > Language & Region > Preferred Languages > Language. Under language options, select Add a keyboard, then United States-International/QWERTY. After that, you can close your Settings and use Ctrl + ? to type the inverted question mark!^{[2]
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- Select the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar (near the date) to view a pop-up menu that’ll let you toggle between keyboards. You can choose between ENG / US and ENG / INTL.
- You might want to use this feature if you consistently write documents in multiple languages.

Section 3 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark on Mac

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1
Type Option + Shift + ? Hit all 3 keys at the same time, with your cursor in the spot you’d like your upside-down question mark. Then, watch your symbol appear!^{[3]
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- The Option key is in between the Command and the Alt key on the bottom of your keyboard.
While you have an open document in the Mac word processing app, Pages, click on Edit in the top-left corner of the screen. Select Emoji & Symbols from the dropdown menu that appears, then click on the Punctuation tab and select the inverted question mark to insert it into your document.^{[4]
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Add input sources to change your keyboard layout. In your Apple menu, select System Settings > Keyboard. Then, next to “Input Sources,” select Edit. Click the + button at the bottom of the menu that appears, then choose the language(s) that you’d like to add to your keyboard.^{[5]
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- For example, you could switch to the Spanish keyboard. For this keyboard, press Shift + < to type an upside-down question mark.
- You can use your Input Menu to switch between languages and find the symbols you want.

Section 4 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark on iPhone & iPad

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1
Tap 123 in the lower-left corner of your keyboard. To bring up your keyboard, just tap the text field where you want to post the question mark (regardless of the app you’re using). Tapping “123” will change the keyboard’s text to numbers and basic symbols.^{[6]
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- You can also use this trick to insert other special characters, like accented words, on your iPhone and iPad.
2
Press and hold ?, then swipe to select ¿. When you press and hold the “?” key, a pop-up menu with a regular “?” and an upside-down question mark will appear. Without removing your finger from the screen, slide it up and over to the upside-down question mark to select it, then remove your finger.^{[7]
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- You’ll know you’ve selected the inverted question mark when the symbol turns blue.
- Press the “?” button lightly; doing it too hard may activate 3D Touch rather than the alternate keys menu.

Section 5 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark on Android

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It's on the lower-left side of the keyboard. Doing so brings up the numbers and symbols view. Then, just find the inverted question mark symbol and tap it to type it into your chosen text field.^{[8]
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Press and hold ?, then select ¿ in the pop-up menu. Once you press and hold the “?” button, you’ll see the menu appear automatically; simply drag your finger up to the inverted question mark and select it. You’ll know you’ve chosen it when the symbol is highlighted in blue.^{[9]
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- Releasing your finger will type the inverted question mark into the selected text field. You can do this as many times as needed!
- You can press and hold other symbols and letters to access the special characters on your Android.

Section 6 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark in Google Docs

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Insert the inverted question mark as a special character. In the top left-hand corner of your Google document, click on Insert, then Special Characters. Scroll down until you see the upside-down question mark, then click on it to insert it into the document.
- You can also just type “inverted question mark” into the Special Characters menu search bar if you don’t want to scroll and look for it!

Section 7 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark in Microsoft Word

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This keycode only works on Microsoft Office Word, so you can use it when you’re typing up documents. Move your cursor to the spot where you’d like your upside-down question mark, then type Ctrl and Alt before you hit Shift and /. The upside-down question mark will pop up as soon as you let go of the keys.^{[10]
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Section 8 of 10:

Type an Upside Down Question Mark on a Chromebook

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It’s the little gear icon next to your user profile in the bottom of your screen. Clicking on this will open up your settings so you can adjust your keyboard and screen.
You’ll see a few options for which languages you can input or select.
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Select Input method, then check the box next to US International Keyboard. This will allow your keyboard to switch in between languages. If you want to, you can specify which language you’d like to use on this page, too.^{[11]
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- If you don’t specify a language, it will be a basic “international” one with special characters and symbols.
When you want to switch over to your new keyboard, hit the 2 keys at the same time. Now, you can use your keyboard to type special characters.^{[12]
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Type rightAlt + /. Make sure your cursor is in the spot where you’d like your upside-down question mark. Hit the 2 keys at the same time and watch your upside-down question mark appear on the screen.^{[13]
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- If you don’t want to switch between keyboards, you can use your normal keyboard and type Ctrl + Shift + u + 00bf.

Section 9 of 10:

How to Use an Upside Down Question Mark

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1
Put an inverted question mark at the beginning of a question. If you’re studying a language that uses an inverted question mark, you’ll use it whenever you write out a question. The inverted question mark goes at the beginning, and the regular question mark goes at the end. For example:^{[14]
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- ¿Adónde vas, Jennifer? (Where are you going, Jennifer?)
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Separate the question from the rest of the sentence. If you’re writing a sentence that has both a statement and a question in it, you can separate the two using your inverted question mark. The question marks only need to surround the question, so you can write it like this:^{[15]
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- Hola, ¿cómo estás? (Hello, how are you?)

Section 10 of 10:

Origin of the Upside Down Question Mark

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Inverted question marks have been used since the early 18th century. They were then published in the Orthography of the Castilian Language (Ortografía de la Lengua Castellana) by the Royal Spanish Academy in 1754. Because the Royal Spanish Academy made them into an official rule, they became a standard part of writing in Spanish and are still used today!^{[16]
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- Although they’re most common in Spanish, similar languages like Galician and Catalan also use upside-down question marks.

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Question

How do I do an inverted exclamation point?

Alx M

Community Answer

All you do is hold down the alt key and press 1. This is for an apple computer/laptop. I'm not sure how to do it on a PC.

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How do I make the upside down question mark on a Chromebook?

Community Answer

Open a browser and search for "upside down question mark," then copy and paste it into a text field.

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Tips

You can use many of the same methods to write an upside-down exclamation point, which is the only other Spanish punctuation mark that’s inverted (and follows similar rules to the “¿”).

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