Does Chinese use punctuation?

Although Chinese didn’t historically strictly need punctuation, modern Chinese does use punctuation and is remarkably similar to English. The important differences are:

• Chinese uses a different type of comma for lists of items, this is called an “enumerated comma” and looks like a small backslash, specifically: 、
  You must use the enumerated comma and not a “standard” English style comma when when listing things, for example: keys、wallet、phone
• Chinese uses title marks for the names of books and movies rather than regular quotation marks, these look like this 《》
  So for example the movie “Titanic” would be written as 《Titanic》

These are the main differences between English and modern Simplified Chinese, if you’d like to know more, keep reading.

List of Chinese punctuation with usage

Below is a full list of Chinese punctuation which briefly explains the usage:

Punctuation		Chinese (Pinyin)	How it’s used
Full stop. Period	。	句jù号hào jùhào	At the end of a sentence, the same as English
Comma	，	逗dòu号hào dòuhào	Same as English but cannot be used for lists of items
Enumerated comma	、	&&nnbbsspp;;顿dùn号hào dùn hào	For list of items only
Semicolon	；	分fēn号hào (fēn hào)	Same as English, especially for parallel sentence structures
Exclamation Mark (Exclamation Point)	！	惊jīng叹tàn号hào jīngtànhào	Same as English
Question mark	？	问wèn号hào wènhào	After a question, the same as English
Quote marks	“…“ ‘…’ 「…」 『…』	引yǐn号hào yǐnhào	Simplified Chinese uses standard quotes “…“ ‘…’ Traditional Chinese uses square quotes 「…」 『…』
Dash	–	连lián字zì号hào lián zìhao	Number ranges
Tilde “wave line”	～	波bō浪làng号hào bōlàng hào	Number ranges e.g. 1-3, especially approximate ranges. To express excitement
Title marks	《…》	书shū名míng号hào shūmínghào	Used for titles of books, movies, etc.
Brackets / Parentheses	（…） 【…】	括kuò号hào guāhào	The same as English
Apostrophe	‘	撇piē号hào piē hào	Not used in Chinese
Middle Dot	·	间jiàn隔gé号hào jiàngé hào	To separate words in non-Chinese names
Ellipsis (“dot dot dot”)	……	省shěng略lüè号hào shěnglüèhào	To ommit parts of a sentence, the same as English, except English uses 3 dots (…) rather than 6 (……)

Complete list of Chinese Punctuation

Below is a comprehensive list of Chinese Punctuation with examples.

Chinese Full Stop (Period) [。] 句号 (jùhào)

In Chinese a full-stop or period is used in the same way we do in English. The differences between Chinese and English is that the period isn’t a dot but a small circle that takes a full character width. Here is an example:

我wǒ住zhù在zài美Měi国guó。.我wǒ是shì美Měi国guó人rén。.
wǒ zhù zài měiguó. wǒ shì měiguó rén.
I am American. I live in America.

[。] An example of a Chinese full stop or period

A full-stop or period is known as 句jù号hào (jùhào) in Chinese, which literally translates to mean “”sentence mark” or “sentence sign”

Chinese Comma [，] 逗号 (dòuhào)

A Chinese comma is used in the same way we use a comma in English, except it cannot be used when listing items. Thus for example the following usage is allowed:

我wǒ有yǒu一yī只zhī猫māo，,她tā很hěn可kě爱'ài
wǒ yǒuyī zhǐ māo, tā hěn kě’ài
I have a cat, she is very cute

[，] An example of a Chinese comma

One difference in Chinese is that a comma can be put between the subject of a sentence and the predicate, that is to say, you can place a comma between the person or thing the sentence is about and the rest of the sentence that describes what they’re doing. This isn’t allowed in English. Here is an example:

他tā，,我wǒ给gěi了le一yī本běn书shū
tā, wǒ gěile yī běn shū
He, I gave a book

An example of a Chinese comma used to separate the subject and predicate of a sentence

The Chinese word for a standard comma is 逗dòu号hào (dòuhào) and means “comma mark”, 逗dòu (dòu) itself means “comma” and can also be written as 读dú (dòu)

A standard comma cannot be used to list items, such as “apples, oranges, bananas”, for which an enumerated comma must be used, which we’ll look at next.

Chinese Enumerated Comma [、] 顿号 (dùnhào)

An enumerated comma is a backwards facing comma that is only used when listing items in Chinese. A standard comma cannot be used for lists of items and an enumerated comma cannot be used for any purpose other than listing items. Let’s look at an example:

苹píng果guǒ、、橙chéng子zi、、香xiāng蕉jiāo
píngguǒ, chéngzi, xiāngjiāo
apples, oranges, bananas

[、] An example of an enumerated comma

An enumerated comma is called 顿dùn号hào (dùnhào), literally a “pause” 顿dùn (dùn) + “mark” 号hào (hào).

How to type an enumerated comma on a computer

Simply type a backslash [\] on your computer keyboard to type a Chinese enumerated comma: 、

Chinese Semicolon [；] 分号 (fēn hào)

Chinese uses a semicolon as we do in English, especially in parallel sentence structures, for example:

如rú果guǒ不bù下xià雨yǔ，,我wǒ要yào去qù买mǎi东dōng西xi；;如rú果guǒ下xià雨yǔ，,我wǒ待dài在zài家jiā里lǐ。.
If it doesn’t rain, I’ll go shopping; if it rains, I’ll stay home.
rúguǒ bùxià yǔ, wǒ yào qù mǎi dōngxī; rúguǒ xià yǔ, wǒ dài zài jiālǐ.

Semicolons are used in Chinese as they are in English [；]

A semicolon is called 分fēn号hào (fēn hào) in Chinese, literally meaning “separating” 分fēn (fēn) + “mark” 分fēn (hào)

Chinese Exclamation Mark (Exclamation Point) [!] 惊叹号 (jīngtànhào)

Chinese uses exclamation marks to add emphasis just as we do in English:

我wǒ恨hèn你nǐ！!
wǒ hèn nǐ
I hate you!

Example of a Chinese exclamation mark is the same as English [！]

The Chinese word for exclamation mark is 惊jīng叹tàn号hào (jīngtànhào), literally “to exclaim” or “gasp of surprise” 惊jīng叹tàn (jīngtàn) + mark 号hào (hào).

Chinese Question Mark [？] 问号 (wènhào)

A question mark in Chinese is used in the same way as English, that is, placed at the end of a question, for example:

你nǐ好hǎo吗ma？?
nǐ hǎo ma?
how are you?

The use of a Chinese question mark is the same as English [？]

A question mark is written as 他tā说shuō''''你nǐ好hǎo！!''''
tā shuō” nǐ hǎo!“
He said “hello’

An example of quote marks in Chinese

Quote marks are call 引yǐn号hào (yǐnhào) in Chinese and are which could be translated to mean literally “provide justification” 引yǐn (yǐn) + “marks” 号hào (hào).

What are the brackets in Chinese with the top or bottom missing?

You may have seen unusual square-bracket characters in Chinese that are missing the bottom of the opening square-bracket and the top of the closing square-bracket i.e. 『』and 「」. These are used in Traditional Chinese instead of standard English style double and single quotes and are just the Traditional Chinese way of writing a double or single quote. Note that double quote marks 『』 are used when within a single quote i.e. 「…『…』…」, this is the opposite of how single and double quotes are used in Simplified Chinese as the single quotes are used within double quotes i.e. “…’…‘…”

An examples of Simplified and Traditional quotes:

Simplified	他说“我走了“
Traditional	他說「我走了」
Pinin	tā shuō “wǒ zǒule”
English	He said “I’m leaving”

An examples of Simplified and Traditional quotes within quotes:

Simplified	哥哥说：“他说我会’误导‘观众”
Traditional	哥哥說：「他說我會『誤導』觀眾」
Pinyin	gēgē shuō:“tā shuō wǒ huì ’wùdǎo‘ guānzhòng”
English	Brother said, “He said I would ‘mislead‘ the audience“

How to I type Traditional Quote Marks 『』and 「」?

When your input keyboard language is set to Traditional Chinese, you can type a double or single quote mark by pressing the single or double quote key [ ” ] or [ ‘ ] on your keyboard; instead of displaying a normal single or double quote your computer should type the Traditional double and single quote brackets instead.

Chinese Hyphen or Dash [-] 连字号 (lián zìhao)

Chinese can use hyphens or dashes to represent number ranges as we do in English, for example:

44--55天tiān
sì – wǔ tiān
4-5 days

[-] An example of a dash in Chinese

The Chinese word for hyphen or dash is 连lián字zì号hào (lián zìhao), and can literally be translated character-by-character to mean “link character mark”.

Chinese “up to” character 到 (dào)

You might see the Chinese “up to” or character 到dào (dào) when ranges are referred to, for example:

44到dào55天tiān
sì dào wǔ tiān
4 to 5 days

[到] An example of a ‘up to’ character in Chinese

到dào (dào) is very commonly used in Chinese, so please don’t be confused when you see this, it is the equivalent of us saying “to” in English when talking about a range.

The other ways to represent a range in Chinese is using a tilde “wavy dash” [~] or the character 到, we’ll look at this next

Chinese tilde or “wavy dash” [~] 波浪号 (bōlàng hào)

A tilde, or “wavy dash” is an alternative way of representing a number range in Chinese, especially, but not always, when the range is an estimate. Using our previous hyphen example:

44~~55天tiān
sì – wǔ tiān
4~5 days

An example of a dash in Chinese [~]

The wavy dash is also used when wanting to express an excited tone, with a little less emphasis than an exclamation mark in English (!), for example “hey~” and also when wanting to elongate a word, for example “whaaat~”

In Chinese the tilde character is literally “wave mark” 波bō浪làng号hào (bōlàng hào).

How to type a tilde (wavy dash) character on your computer

The tilde (wavy dash) [~] character is to the left of the number one [1] at the top left hand side of your keyboard. The key that you use no matter what your input mode (English or Chinese).

Chinese Title Marks 《 … 》书名号 (shūmínghào)

Title marks are used in the same way we use quotation marks in English, but are only used for the names of books, films etc. If you had a book named “my dog”, that is 我wǒ的de狗gǒu (wǒ de gǒu), instead of using quotes around the title as you would in English, you would use title marks as follows:

《《我wǒ的de狗gǒu》》
wǒ de gǒu
“my dog”

An example of title marks in chinese [《] and [》]

Title marks are used in Chinese to mea《 》 are called 书shū名míng号hào (shūmínghào) in Chinese, which you can break down as meaning “book” 书shū (shū) and “title” 名míng号hào (mínghào).

How to type a title mark on a computer

To write a title mark on your computer, just type the bigger-than and smaller-than signs when on Chinese input mode [<] [>]

Chinese Brackets or Parentheses （）and 【】括号 (guāhào)

There are two types of brackets in Chinese, the regular brackets （）and square brackets 【】. As with all punctuation note that the brackets are a full character width, that is to say they are not slim like standard English brackets and square brackets () and [].

美Měi国guó（(美Měi利lì坚jiān合Hé众zhòng国guó）)
měiguó (měilìjiān hézhòngguó)
United States (United States of America)

Brackets in Chinese are used in the same was as English 【】（）

括kuò号hào (guāhào) is the Chinese word for parentheses an literally means “enclose” 括kuò (guā) + “marks” 号hào (hào)

Chinese Apostrophe [‘] 撇号 (piē hào)

Chinese does not use an apostrophe in the way we do in English, specifically apostrophes are not used to omit characters (e.g. did becomes didn’t) or for possession. Here are some examples of how an apostrophe isn’t used in Chinese:

1. In English we use an apostrophe to leave out (omit) letters in words, for example:
   – In English did not can be abbreviated to didn’t in English
   – In English they had abbreviates to they’d
   In Chinese you can’t omit characters and replace them with an apostrophe as we do with letters in English
2. In English we use an apostrophe to show possession of something, for example
   – Mary’s bag
   – John’s friend
   When talking about somebodies or somethings item, for example “Mary’s bag”, the 的de (de) character is used to show possession, for example ra’x say=”Mary的包”] （Mary de bāo). For more information on 的 check out our post on how to use de in Chinese.

The only use of an apostrophe in Chinese is when separating Hanyu Pinyin characters. If you don’t know what Hanyu Pinyin is, check out our post on What i Hanyu Pinyin. In brief, Pinyin is the standard way of Romanising Chinese characters, that is, it is the standard way of writing the pronunciation of Chinese characters and words using A-Z. In Pinyin when a character starts with a vowel but isn’t the first character of the word, the apostrophe is used. Here are some examples:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
西Xī安'ān	xī’ān	Xian (the capital city of Shǎnxī 陕西 province in China)
线xiàn	xiàn	thread (as in needle and thread)
先xiān	xiān	first (as in first, second, third)

Note how the Pinyin for all of the above characters is xian, however in the case of 西Xī安'ān the city, it is two characters, while for 线xiàn and 先xiān these are one word. To make it clear that the Pinyin for 西Xī安'ān is two characters, an apostrophe is used between the characters.

In Chinese an apostrophe is called 撇piē号hào (piē hào), which means “downward stroke” 撇piē (piē) + “mark” 号hào (hào).

Apostrophe as a quote in Chinese

Chinese does use a single quote, which is the same symbol as an apostrophe. Typically a single quote is used when providing a quote within a quote i.e. “he said he would ‘help’ me”. When used as a quote, the apostrophe character is not being used as an apostrophe, much in the same way single quotes are used in English. See the section on this post “Chinese Quote Marks”.

Chinese Spacer – Middle Dot [·] 间隔号 (jiàngé hào)

Chinese uses a “Middle Dot” or “Spacer”, which looks the same as a normal Western style full-stop of period, except it the dot is vertically in the middle of the character and does not take up the width of a full character, but ir really meant to be a dot between characters. The middle dot is unlike a Chinese full stop or period which is a small circle rather than a dot. Here is a comparison:

English Dot Full Stop or Period	.
Normal Chinese Full Stop or Period	。
Chinese Middle Dot	·

The Chinese middle dot is often used when separating characters in non-Chinese names, for example the name “William Shakespeare” is 威Wēi廉lián··莎Shā士shì比bǐ亚yà (wēilián·shāshìbǐyǎ); as you can see there is a middle dot between “William” 威Wēi廉lián (wēilián) and “Shakespeare” is 莎Shā士shì比bǐ亚yà (shāshìbǐyǎ). It is common for names of foreign names of people and places to be written phonetically in Chinese, that is using characters that sound approximately like the name is supposed to. It is much clearer with the middle dot no only which characters belong to each other, but also it makes it obvious that this is a foreign name.

A Chinese middle dot is call 间jiàn隔gé号hào (jiàngé hào) and literally means “dividing” 间jiàn隔gé (jiàngé) + “dot” 号hào (hào)

How to write a Chinese Middle Dot

To write a Chinese middle dot, simply press the tilde key on your keyboard, without pressing shift at the same time,, when on Chinese input mode. This is the key which should have the symbols [`] and [~] on it. When you

Chinese Ellipsis “dot dot dot”…… 省略号 (shěnglüèhào)

Even if you’ve never heard of an ellipsis, you know what it is; it’s when someone writes a few dots in a row when leaving out part of a sentence, for example “I bought carros, potatoes….. and chocolate!”

Ellipsis means “omission”, and is used in English when part of a sentence is omitted. In English ellipsis are supposed to be just three dots in a row, but you will see people write more in less formal writing. A Chinese Ellipsis is used in the same way we do in English, but is six dots: [……]
The Chinese six dot ellipsis is actually made of up two characters of three dots each, that is each character is actually : […]

This is an example of a ellipsis in Chinese:

我wǒ买mǎi了le萝luó卜bo、、土tǔ豆dòu…………和hé巧qiǎo克kè力lì！!
wǒ mǎile píng, luóbo, tǔdòu……hé qiǎokèlì!
I bought carrots, potatoes … and chocolate!

Example of ellipsis in Chinese [……]

An ellipsis is called 省shěng略lüè号hào (shěnglüèhào) in Chinese and literally means “omission” 省shěng略lüè (shěnglüè) + “mark” 号hào (hào).

How to type a Chinese six dot Ellipsis

When in Chinese input mode you can type a six dot ellipsis …… by pressing shift and pressing the “6” key at the top of the keyboard.

Chinese punctuation width

Chinese punctuation on a computer is normally one character width wide, that is to say it uses the width of a full Chinese character. This is unlike standard English punctuation that is typically does not take the space of a full character. Below are some comparisons of English and Chinese punctuation side by side, each enclosed within square brackets [ ] so you can see the spacing clearly.

	EN	CH
Full stop. Period	[.]	[。]
Question mark	[?]	[？]
Comma	[,]	[，]
Enumerated comma	[,]	[，]
Quote marks	[“]	[“]
Tilde character	[~]	[～]
Title marks		[《] and [》]

Final word on Chinese punctuation

Chinese punctuation is much the same as English, and is not something most learners need to spend much time thinking about. The most notable difference is the use of the enumerated comma for lists, and something learners should be aware of.