What is the Greek question mark? Why do the Greek quotation marks look so different?
One of the most common assumptions Greek language students have when starting their learning journey is that the Greek punctuation marks are the same as the ones used in English or other European languages. Although most punctuation marks are used in the same way, there are also many differences.
ฮคฮฑ ฮฮปฮปฮทฮฝฮนฮบฮฌ ฮฃฮทฮผฮตฮฏฮฑ ฮฃฯฮฏฮพฮทฯ
The Greek Question Mark: โ?โ or โ;โ | ฮคฮฟ ฮฯฯฯฮทฮผฮฑฯฮนฮบฯ
If you are using this question mark (?) at the end of a question in Greek, you are grammatically wrong. Most people will understand that you are asking a question, however, the correct Greek question mark is the following: ;
Yes, the Greek question mark is the English semicolon and it is used at the end of all direct questions. Many programmers, in fact, take advantage of this to prank their colleagues by replacing the semicolons in the JavaScript with Greek question marks.
Example:
ยซฮคฮน ฮบฮฌฮฝฮตฮนฯ;ยป
โHow are you?โ
The Greek Semicolon | ฮ ฮฮฝฯ ฮคฮตฮปฮตฮฏฮฑ
If the English semicolon is the Greek question mark, what symbol represents the Greek semicolon? The punctuation mark that is used in this case is the ยซฮฌฮฝฯ ฯฮตฮปฮตฮฏฮฑยป or โup dotโ, which is basically an interpunct: ๊
Example:
ยซฮฮตฮฝ ฮตฮฏฯฮต ฯฯฮฎฮผฮฑฯฮฑ๊ ฮพฮญฯฮฑฯฮต ฯฮฟ ฯฮฟฯฯฮฟฯฯฮปฮน ฯฮฟฯ .ยป
โHe had no money; he left his wallet (at home).โ
The Greek Quote Marks | ฮคฮฑ ฮฮปฮปฮทฮฝฮนฮบฮฌ ฮฮนฯฮฑฮณฯฮณฮนฮบฮฌ
As you might have already noticed from the above examples, the Greek quote marks are the same as the ones used in the French language: ยซยป
The English quotes are used only when it is necessary to add another set of quotes in the quoted sentence.
Examples:
ยซฮคฮน ฮญฮบฮฑฮฝฮตฯ;ยป, ฯฯฯฮทฯฮต.
โWhat have you done?โ, he asked.
ยซฮคฮน ฯฮทฮผฮฑฮฏฮฝฮตฮน โฮบฮญฯฮนโ;ยป
โWhat is โkefiโ?โ
Other Punctuation Marks | ฮฮปฮปฮฑ ฮฃฮทฮผฮตฮฏฮฑ ฮฃฯฮฏฮพฮทฯ
The rest of the punctuation marks, such as the full stop (.), the comma (,), the exclamation mark (!), and the suspension points (โฆ) are the same as in English.
Here are their names in Greek:
โข Full stop= ฮคฮตฮปฮตฮฏฮฑ
โข Comma= ฮฯฮผฮผฮฑ*
โข Exclamation mark= ฮฮฑฯ
ฮผฮฑฯฯฮนฮบฯ
โข Suspension points= ฮฯฮฟฯฮนฯฯฮทฯฮนฮบฮฌ
*The word โcommaโ in English derives from this Greek word. ยซฮฯฮผฮผฮฑยป also means โ(political) partyโ.

Marialena Perpiraki is a journalist and writer from Athens, Greece. In 2020, she founded Helinika as a cross-media platform.
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