5. Punctuation

The most common punctuation marks in Chinese are listed below. Notice that punctuation marks also occupy a square of space just like a character and are centered in the square.

句號 geoi3⠒ hou6⠤ (。) is similar to a full stop in English.

逗號 dau6⠤ hou6⠤ (，) is similar to a comma in English that is used to separate clauses. Note that 逗號 dau6⠤ hou6⠤ is used between clauses much more often in Chinese.

頓號 deon6⠤ hou6⠤ (、) is similar to a comma in English that is used to separate items within one clause when there are more than two items.

問號 man6⠤ hou6⠤ is similar to a question mark in English.

冒號 mou6⠤ hou6⠤ is often used to introduce speech.

引號 jan5⠔ hou6⠤ is similar to quotation marks in English. It is often used to surround speech.

省略號 saang2⠜ loek6⠤ hou6⠤ is similar to an ellipsis in English, but notice that 省略號 saang2⠜ loek6⠤ hou6⠤ in Chinese has six dots and occupies two squares of space.