Free · 15 marks
Chinese punctuation
Tap a mark to copy it.
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句号 jùhào Full stop
Ends a statement. A small circle, not a dot.
我今天很忙。
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逗号 dòuhào Comma
A pause inside a sentence, between its parts.
如果明天下雨，我们就不去了。
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顿号 dùnhào Enumeration comma
Between the items of a list, where English uses a comma.
我买了苹果、香蕉和橙子。
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问号 wènhào Question mark
Ends a question, including one with 吗 or 呢.
你去哪儿？
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感叹号 gǎntànhào Exclamation mark
Ends an exclamation or a strong command. Also called 叹号.
太好了！
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冒号 màohào Colon
Before speech, a list or an explanation.
老师说：“明天考试。”
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分号 fēnhào Semicolon
Between two parts of a sentence that stand side by side.
他喜欢看书；她喜欢运动。
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引号 yǐnhào Quotation marks
Around speech and quoted words; single marks go inside double ones.
他说：“我饿了。”
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书名号 shūmínghào Title marks
Around the title of a book, film, song or article; the single ones go inside.
我在看《红楼梦》。
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括号 kuòhào Brackets
Around a note or explanation; 【】 often frames a heading or a tag.
北京（中国的首都）很大。
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破折号 pòzhéhào Dash
Before an explanation or a turn in the sentence. Two characters wide.
他只有一个爱好——睡觉。
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省略号 shěnglüèhào Ellipsis
Words left out, or speech trailing off. Six dots, two characters wide.
我想……算了。
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间隔号 jiàngéhào Middle dot
Between the parts of a foreign name, and in some dates named for events.
迈克尔·乔丹
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连接号 liánjiēhào Range mark
Between the two ends of a range of numbers, times or places.
每天9:00～17:00上课。
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分隔号 fēngéhào Slash
Between alternatives, or the lines of a poem written on one line.
13／14赛季
How to type them
Switch to a Chinese pinyin keyboard and press the usual key: it types the Chinese mark.
| Key | Types |
|---|---|
| . | 。 |
| , | ， |
| \ | 、 |
| ? | ？ |
| ! | ！ |
| : | ： |
| ; | ； |
| " | “ ” |
| < > | 《 》 |
| ( ) | （ ） |
| Shift + - | —— |
| Shift + 6 | …… |
| ` | · |
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Does Chinese use punctuation?
Yes. Modern Chinese uses 17 marks, set by the national standard GB/T 15834-2011, and every book, sign and subtitle uses them. Classical Chinese was mostly written without punctuation; the modern marks were adopted in 1920.
Why do Chinese punctuation marks look different?
Each mark takes the full width of a character, so a Chinese comma (，) is wider than an English one (,), and no space follows it. The full stop is a small circle (。), and the list comma (、) has no English twin.
What is different in Taiwan and Hong Kong?
Quotation marks are corner brackets, 「 」 with 『 』 inside, and the full stop and comma sit in the middle of the character’s box instead of at the bottom left. Books set in vertical columns turn the marks to match.
How do you write a book title in Chinese?
Between title marks: 《红楼梦》 for a book, film or song, with 〈 〉 for a title inside another. Chinese has no italics for titles.
More on writing
Marks and names from China’s national standard, GB/T 15834-2011, Use of punctuation marks.