Why does the spanish language use upside down exclamation points and question marks?
Answer
Spanish is different than English. The syntax of a sentence does not always tell you immediately
whether the sentence is a statement or a question, so using the inverted question mark
at the beginning warns you that a question is on the way and makes everybody's life easier.
Compare the following sentences and their Spanish versions.
There is a lemon tree in her backyard.
Is there a lemon tree in her backyard?
In English, the verb goes to the beginning in the question, so a question mark at the end is enough.
To Spanish now:
En el patio de su casa hay un limonero.
In Spanish the words stay where they are when asking the question, so that is why the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (the country's official institution in language matters) determined that two question marks were needed.
¿En el patio de su casa hay un limonero?
The same applies to exclamation marks. The inverted one at the beginning of the sentence lets you know that the speaker is expressing some kind of emotion whether surprise, anger, bewilderment or whatever.
Hope this helps!
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