Symbols In Spanish: Names, Pronunciation, And How To Use Them

If you’ve ever tried to say your email address in Spanish and got stuck at “uh… the little a with the circle?”, this article is for you. Symbols show up everywhere: emails, passwords, math, chats, hashtags, and even in how Spanish writes questions and exclamations.

Here you’ll learn the most useful símbolos /ˈsim.bo.los/ — symbols — in Spanish, how to pronounce their names, and how they’re actually used in real life. By the end, you’ll be able to give your email, read a password out loud, and talk about punctuation without miming in the air.

Quick Primer

A few key words you’ll see a lot:

símbolo /ˈsim.bo.lo/ — symbol
signo /ˈsiɣ.no/ — sign, symbol
signo de puntuación /ˈsiɣ.no ðe pun.twaˈsjón/ — punctuation mark
carácter especial /kaɾakˈteɾ es.peˈsjal/ — special character

Spanish symbol names are mostly regular words: coma, punto, guion. The main challenge is remembering:

The special names (like arroba for @)
The extra symbols Spanish uses (like inverted question marks)
Some different conventions, like decimal commas in many countries

Core Email And Password Symbols

These are the ones you meet first when giving your email or reading a password.

Example email:

mi.nombre-88_guionbajo@gmail.com
You’d say it like:

mi punto nombre guion ochenta y ocho guion bajo arroba gmail punto com
/mi ˈpun.to ˈnom.bɾe ɡiˈon oˈtʃen.ta i ˈo.tʃo ɡiˈon ˈba.xo aˈro.βa ɟʝiˈmejl ˈpun.to ˈkom/

Usage notes:

The at sign is almost always arroba, never “at”.
For “dot com” you can say punto com; people often pronounce brand names half-English (gmail, outlook).
For passwords, people sometimes say guion medio /ɡiˈon ˈmje.ðjo/ — “middle dash” — for the normal hyphen.

Punctuation Symbols And Their Names

These are the signos de puntuación /ˈsiɣ.nos ðe pun.twaˈsjón/ you’ll see in any text.

Spanish | IPA | English
punto | /ˈpun.to/ | . period / full stop
coma | /ˈko.ma/ | , comma
punto y coma | /ˈpun.to i ˈko.ma/ | ; semicolon
dos puntos | /dos ˈpun.tos/ | : colon
puntos suspensivos | /ˈpun.tos sus.penˈsi.βos/ | … ellipsis
signo de interrogación | /ˈsiɣ.no ðe in.te.ro.ɣaˈsjon/ | ? question mark
signo de exclamación | /ˈsiɣ.no ðe eks.kla.maˈsjon/ | ! exclamation mark
comillas | /koˈmi.ʝas/ | “ ” quotation marks
paréntesis | /paˈɾen.te.sis/ | ( ) parentheses
corchetes | /koɾˈtʃe.tes/ | [ ] square brackets
llaves | /ˈʝa.βes/ | { } curly brackets

Special Spanish spice: you also have signo de interrogación de apertura /ðe a.peɾˈtu.ɾa/ — opening question mark — and signo de exclamación de apertura — opening exclamation mark:

¿ ? — signos de interrogación
¡ ! — signos de exclamación

Spanish writes questions and exclamations with both opening and closing marks:

¿Cómo estás?
/ˈko.mo esˈtas/
How are you?

¡Qué buena idea!
/ke ˈbwe.na iˈðe.a/
What a great idea!

Usage notes:

In casual texting, some people drop the inverted marks (Como estas?), but standard writing uses both.
Comillas can be English-style “ ”, French-style « », or simple quotes ‘ ’; the name stays the same.
Puntos suspensivos are always three dots: …

Math And Number Symbols

For math class, prices, and basic numbers, you need símbolos matemáticos /simˈbo.los ma.teˈma.ti.kos/.

Examples:

2 + 2 = 4
You’d read it:

dos más dos igual a cuatro
/dos mas dos iˈɣwal a ˈkwa.tɾo/

25%

veinticinco por ciento
/bein.tiˈsiŋ.ko poɾ ˈsjɛn.to/

Usage notes:

For “times” in basic multiplication, por is standard: tres por cuatro.
For currencies, people often combine the symbol with the word: 10 € — diez euros; 5 $ — cinco dólares.

Many Spanish-speaking countries write decimals with a coma instead of a dot:

3,5 — tres coma cinco (3.5)
2,99 — dos coma noventa y nueve

Texting, Hashtags, And Modern Symbols

Online life brings its own símbolos de internet /simˈbo.los ðe inteɾˈnet/.

Example of saying a hashtag:

#ViajarPorEspaña

hashtag viajar por España
/ˈhas.tak bjaˈxaɾ poɾ esˈpa.ɲa/

Or in Spain:

almohadilla viajar por España

Usage notes:

In many places, people just say hashtag with a Spanish accent.
Emoji and like are usually pronounced close to English but with Spanish vowels.

Putting It Together In Real Life

Saying Your Email Address

Example:

lucia-rojas_21@gmail.com

lucia guion rojas guion bajo veintiuno arroba gmail punto com
/luˈsi.a ɡiˈon ˈro.xas ɡiˈon ˈba.xo bein.tiˈu.no aˈro.βa ɟʝiˈmejl ˈpun.to ˈkom/

Describing Punctuation

If you want to talk about punctuation itself:

Example sentence:

Aquí va una coma, no un punto.
/aˈki βa ˈu.na ˈko.ma no un ˈpun.to/
A comma goes here, not a period.

Usage Notes And Common Mistakes

A few classic traps for learners:

Forgetting the inverted question and exclamation marks in Spanish: you need both ¿? and ¡! at the beginning and end.
Mixing up coma (,) and punto (.). In many countries, coma is used for decimals (3,5), not punto.
Saying “at” for @ instead of arroba.
Using English symbol names like “slash” instead of barra.
Over-translating: in Spanish, people often just say hashtag, emoji, like instead of inventing complicated Spanish alternatives.

If you just master: arroba, punto, coma, guion, guion bajo, signo de interrogación, signo de exclamación, you can already survive most everyday situations.

Region Notes

Spain:

is frequently called almohadilla /al.mo.aˈði.ʝa/ on phones and keypads, though hashtag is very common online.
Decimal coma is standard in writing: 3,14.

Latin America:

can be numeral /nu.meˈɾal/ or just hashtag.
Decimal coma is also very common, but you’ll see both 3,5 and 3.5 in informal contexts depending on the country and platform.

The core symbol names (punto, coma, arroba, guion, guion bajo) are widely understood across the Spanish-speaking world.

Mini Dialogues

Dialogue 1: Giving An Email Address

¿Cuál es tu correo electrónico?
/kwal es tu koˈre.o elekˈtɾo.ni.ko/
What’s your email address?

Es juan.perez_90@gmail.com
/es xwan ˈpe.ɾes ˈno.βen.ta aˈro.βa ɟʝiˈmejl ˈpun.to ˈkom/
It’s juan.perez_90@gmail.com

¿Me lo repites con los símbolos, por favor?
/me lo reˈpi.tes kon lo{s} ˈsim.bo.los poɾ faˈβoɾ/
Can you repeat it with the symbols, please?

Sí, claro: juan punto perez guion bajo noventa arroba gmail punto com.
/si ˈkla.ɾo xwan ˈpun.to ˈpe.ɾes ɡiˈon ˈba.xo noˈβen.ta aˈro.βa ɟʝiˈmejl ˈpun.to ˈkom/
Yes, of course: juan dot perez underscore ninety at gmail dot com.

Dialogue 2: Talking About Punctuation In Class

Aquí falta una coma.
/aˈki ˈfal.ta ˈu.na ˈko.ma/
There’s a comma missing here.

¿Entre “hola” y “Pedro”?
/ˈen.tɾe ˈo.la i ˈpe.ðɾo/
Between “hola” and “Pedro”?

Sí, y al final va un punto, no una coma.
/si i al fiˈnal βa un ˈpun.to no ˈu.na ˈko.ma/
Yes, and at the end you need a period, not a comma.

Dialogue 3: Reading A Math Expression

¿Cómo se lee “5 + 3 = 8” en español?
/ˈko.mo se ˈle.e ˈθin.ko mas tɾes iˈɣwal o.ʧo en es.paˈɲol/
How do you read “5 + 3 = 8” in Spanish?

Se lee: cinco más tres igual a ocho.
/se ˈle.e ˈθin.ko mas tɾes iˈɣwal a ˈo.tʃo/
You read it: five plus three equals eight.

Perfecto.
/peɾˈfek.to/
Perfect.

Quick Reference

Five-Minute Practice Plan

Write down your email address and two fake usernames, then practice saying them out loud in Spanish using arroba, punto, guion, guion bajo.
Copy three short math expressions (like 4 + 7 = 11) and read them out loud using más, menos, por, dividido, igual.
Take one short Spanish sentence and describe its punctuation: say where there’s a coma, punto, signo de interrogación, etc.
Practice two questions and two exclamations, making sure you say and write both ¿? and ¡!.
Look at your phone keypad in Spanish and read the symbols you see: #, *, etc., naming each one in Spanish.
Record a 20-second explanation in Spanish of how to say your email address, using as many symbol names as possible.

Yak-Style Closing Spark

Once you can talk about symbols in Spanish, you unlock a surprisingly big part of real life: spelling names by phone, giving Wi-Fi passwords, reading math, fixing punctuation, and surviving any “What’s your email?” moment without resorting to awkward charades. Symbols are tiny, but they make your Spanish feel instantly more grown-up and practical.