Quotation mark

The symbol  "  redirects here. For other uses, see " (disambiguation).

"\x22" redirects here; not to be confused with X22.

“ ”  " " ‘ ’  ' 'o
English quotation marks
Other names	quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas, talking marks
« » 「 」 Guillemets CJK brackets

Quotation marks are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same glyph. Quotation marks have a variety of forms in different languages and in different media.

History

The single quotation mark is traced to Ancient Greek practice, adopted and adapted by monastic copyists. Isidore of Seville, in his seventh-century encyclopedia, Etymologiae, described their use of the Greek diplé, a symbol like a right angle bracket:

[13] ⟩ Diple. Hanc scriptores nostri adponunt in libris ecclesiasticorum virorum ad separanda vel [ad] demonstranda testimonia sanctarum Scripturarum.

Translation:

[13] ⟩ Diplé. Our copyists place this sign in the books of the people of the Church, to separate or to indicate the quotations drawn from the Holy Scriptures.

The double quotation mark derives from a marginal notation used in fifteenth-century manuscript annotations to indicate a passage of particular importance (not necessarily a quotation); the notation was placed in the outside margin of the page and was repeated alongside each line of the passage. In his edition of the works of Aristotle, which appeared in 1483 or 1484, the Milanese Renaissance humanist Francesco Filelfo marked literal and appropriate quotes with oblique double dashes on the left margin of each line. Until then, literal quotations had been highlighted or not at the author's discretion. Non-verbal loans were marked on the edge. After the publication of Filelfo's edition, the quotation marks for literal quotations prevailed. During the seventeenth century this treatment became specific to quoted material, and it grew common, especially in Britain, to print quotation marks (now in the modern opening and closing forms) at the beginning and end of the quotation as well as in the margin; the French usage is a remnant of this. In most other languages, including English, the marginal marks dropped out of use in the last years of the eighteenth century. The usage of a pair of marks, opening and closing, at the level of lower case letters was generalized.

Guillemets by the Imprimerie nationale in Bulletin de l'Agence générale des colonies, No. 302, May 1934, showing the usage of a pair of marks, opening and closing, at the level of lower case letters

Clash between the apostrophe and curved quotation marks in a phrase meaning "the crimes of the 'good Samaritans' "

By the nineteenth century, the design and usage began to be specific to each region. In Western Europe the custom became to use the quotation mark pairs with the convexity of each mark aimed outward. In Britain those marks were elevated to the same height as the top of capital letters: “...”.

Clearly distinguishable apostrophe and angular quotation marks.

Blank space (in yellow) provoked by elevated quotation marks; some type designers consider this excessive.

In France, by the end of the nineteenth century, the marks were modified to an angular shape. Some authors claim that the reason for this was a practical one, in order to get a character that was clearly distinguishable from apostrophes, commas, and parentheses. Also, in other scripts, the angular quotation marks are distinguishable from other punctuation characters: the Greek breathing marks, the Armenian emphasis and apostrophe, the Arabic comma, the decimal separator, the thousands separator, etc. Other authors claim that the reason for this was an aesthetic one: the elevated quotation marks created extra white space before and after the word, below the quotation marks. This was considered aesthetically unpleasing, while the in-line quotation marks helped to maintain the typographical color, since the quotation marks had the same height and were aligned with the lower case letters. Nevertheless, while other languages do not insert spaces between the quotation marks and the word(s) quoted, the French usage does insert them, even if they are narrow spaces.

The curved quotation marks ("66–99") usage, “...”, was exported to some non-Latin scripts, notably where there was some English influence, for instance in Native American scripts and Indic scripts. On the other hand, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Ethiopic adopted the French "angular" quotation marks, «...». The Far East angle bracket quotation marks, 《...》, are also a development of the in-line angular quotation marks.

In Central Europe, the practice was to use the quotation mark pairs with the convexity aimed inward. The German tradition preferred the curved quotation marks, the first one at the level of the commas, the second one at the level of the apostrophes: „...“. Alternatively, these marks could be angular and in-line with lower case letters, but still pointing inward: »...«. Some neighboring regions adopted the German curved marks tradition with lower–upper alignment, while some, e.g. Poland, adopted a variant with the convexity of the closing mark aimed rightward like the opening one, „...”.

Sweden (and Finland) chose a convention where the convexity of both marks was aimed to the right but lined up both at the top level: ”...”.

In Eastern Europe, there was hesitation between the French tradition «...» and the German tradition „...“. The French tradition prevailed in Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus), whereas the German tradition, or its modified version with the convexity of the closing mark aimed rightward, has become dominant in Southeastern Europe, e.g. in the Balkan countries. In Romania the: „...” version is officially recognized by the Romanian Academy.

In some languages using the angular quotation marks, the usage of the single guillemet, ‹...›, became obsolete, being replaced by double curved ones: “...”, though the single ones still survive, for instance, in Switzerland. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the curved quotation marks, „...“, are used as a secondary level or in handwriting, while the angular marks, «...», are used as the primary level on printed text.

In English

Main article: Quotation marks in English

In English writing, quotation marks are placed in pairs around a word or phrase to indicate:

• Quotation or direct speech: Carol said "Go ahead" when I asked her if the launcher was ready.
• Mention in another work of the title of a short or subsidiary work, such as a chapter or an episode: "Encounter at Farpoint" was the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Scare quotes, used to mean "so-called" or to express sarcasm: The "fresh" bread was all dried up.

In American writing, quotation marks are normally the double kind (the primary style). If quotation marks are used inside another pair of quotation marks, then single quotation marks are used. For example: "Didn't she say 'I like red best' when I asked her wine preferences?" he asked his guests. If another set of quotation marks is nested inside single quotation marks, double quotation marks are used again, and they continue to alternate as necessary (though this is rarely done).

British publishing is regarded as more flexible about whether double or single quotation marks should be used. A tendency to use single quotation marks in British writing is thought to have arisen after the mid-19th century invention of steam-powered presses and the consequent rise of London and New York as distinct, industrialized publishing centers whose publishing houses adhered to separate norms. The King's English in 1908 noted that the prevailing British practice was to use double marks for most purposes, and single ones for quotations within quotations. Different media now follow different conventions in the United Kingdom.

Different varieties and styles of English have different conventions regarding whether terminal punctuation should be written inside or outside the quotation marks. North American printing usually puts full stops and commas (but not colons, semicolons, exclamation or question marks) inside the closing quotation mark, whether it is part of the original quoted material or not. Styles elsewhere vary widely and have different rationales for placing it inside or outside, often a matter of house style.

Typographic forms

See also: Typographic approximation

Regarding their appearance, two shape classifications of quotation marks are used in English-language texts:

• '...' and "..." are known as neutral, vertical, straight, typewriter, dumb, or ASCII quotation marks. The left and right marks are identical. These are the symbols found on typical QWERTY keyboards, although they are sometimes automatically converted to the other type by software.
• ‘...’ and “...” are known as typographic, curly, curved, book, or smart quotation marks. (The doubled ones are more informally known as "66 and 99".) The beginning marks look like commas raised to the ascender line and rotated 180 degrees (and thus known as 'inverted commas'). The ending marks look like commas raised to the ascender line. Curved quotation marks are used mainly in manuscript, printing, and typesetting. Type cases (of any language) generally have the curved quotation mark metal types for the respective language, and may lack the vertical quotation mark metal types. Because most computer keyboards lack keys to enter typographic quotation marks directly, much that is written using word-processing programs has vertical quotation marks. The "smart quotes" feature in some computer software can convert vertical quotation marks to curly ones, although sometimes inappropriately.

The closing or right single quotation mark is identical in form to the apostrophe and similar to the prime symbol. The double quotation mark is identical to the ditto mark in English-language usage. It is also similar to—and often used to represent—the double prime symbol. These all serve different purposes and have distinct Unicode codepoints.

• 
  A typewriter
• 
  A type case containing sorts of movable type
• 
  A wired computer keyboard for desktop use

Summary table

Other languages have similar conventions to English, but use different symbols or different placement.

Language	ISO-639	Standard			Alternative			Spacing	Names	Notes & references
		Primary	Secondary	Notes	Primary	Secondary	Notes
Afrikaans	af	“...”	‘...’		„...”	‚...’			aanhalingsteken (quotation)
Albanian	sq	„...“	‘...’						thonjëza (quotes)
Amharic	am	«...»	‹...›		“...”	‘...’			ትምህርተ ጥቅስ (timihirite t’ik’isi, quote)
Arabic	ar	«...»			“...”			Optional	‏علامات تنصيص‎ (ʻalāmāt tanṣīṣ, quotation marks)
Armenian	hy	«...»							չակերտներ (chakertner, quotation marks)
Azerbaijani	az	“...”	"..."		„...“			0–1 pt	dırnaq işarəsi (fingernail mark)
Basque	eu	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’			komatxoak
Belarusian	be	«...»	„...“		„...“				двукоссе (dvukossie, double commas) лапкі (lapki, little paws)
Bosnian	bs	”...” „...”	’...’		»...«				”...” navodnici, наводници, znaci navoda, знаци навода (quotation marks) ’...’ polunavodnici, полунаводници (half-quotation marks)	»...« is used only in printed media.
Bulgarian	bg	„...“	’...’ ‘...’		«...»	’...’ ‘...’			кавички (kavichki) (or стандартни кавички, двойни кавички (standartni/dvoyni kavichki) for the main types of quotation marks (also called double quotation mark(s)), and единични кавички, вторични кавички (edinichni/vtorichni kavichki) for the secondary quotation marks (also called single quotation mark(s)).
Catalan	ca	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’		none	«...» cometes franceses (French quotation marks) “...” cometes angleses (English quotation marks) ‘...’ cometes simples (Simple quotation marks)
Chinese, simplified	zh	“⋯” 『⋯』	‘⋯’ 「⋯」		「⋯」	『⋯』		Fullwidth form	“⋯” 双引号 (pinyin: shuāng yǐn hào, double quotation mark) ‘⋯’ 单引号 (pinyin: dān yǐn hào, single quotation mark)
Chinese, traditional	zh_TW	「⋯」 「⋯」	『⋯』 『⋯』		“⋯”	‘⋯’		Fullwidth form	「⋯」單引號 (pinyin: dān yǐn hào; Jyutping: daan1 jan5 hou6, single quotation mark) 『⋯』雙引號 (pinyin: shuāng yǐn hào; Jyutping: soeng1 jan5 hou6, double quotation mark)
Croatian	hr	„...”	‘...’		»...«				„...” and »...« navodnici (quotation marks) ‘...’ polunavodnici (single quotes)
Czech	cs	„...“	‚...‘		»...«	›...‹			uvozovky (introduce)
Danish	da	»...« „...“	›...‹ ‚...‘		”...” “...”	’...’			citationstegn (citation marks) anførselstegn (quotes) gåseøjne (goose eyes)
Dutch	nl	“...”	‘...’		„...”	‚...’			enkele aanhalingstekens, dubbele aanhalingstekens (single/double citation marks) ‘...’ zogenaamdfunctie (scare quotes)	Double citation marks are only used in literal citations The sequence when using primary and secondary level is a recommendation, not a rule.
English: UK, Australia, New Zealand	en_GB, en_AU, en_NZ	‘...’	“...”		“...”	‘...’		1–2 pt	Quotation marks, double quotes, quotes, inverted commas, speech marks	Usage of single or double as primary varies across English varieties.
English: US, Canada, South Africa	en_US, en_CA, en_ZA	“...”	‘...’
Esperanto	eo	“...”	‘...’		«...» „...“	‹...› ‚...‘			citiloj (lit. quoting tools)
Estonian	et	„...“			«...»				jutumärgid (speech marks) hanejalad (goose feet)
Filipino	tl_PH	“...”	‘...’						panipi
Finnish	fi	”...”	’...’		»...»	’...’			lainausmerkit (citation marks)
French	fr	« ... »	« ... »			‹ ... ›			guillemets (William)
			“...”		“...”	‘...’		none
French, Switzerland	fr_CH	«...»	‹...›
Galician	gl	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’			comiñas aspas
Georgian	ka	„...“			none			none	ბრჭყალები (brč’q’alebi, claws)
German	de	„...“	‚...‘		»...«	›...‹			Anführungszeichen (quotation marks) Gänsefüßchen (little goose feet) Hochkommas, Hochkommata (high commas)
German, Switzerland; Swiss German	de_CH	«...»	‹...›		„...“	‚...‘
Greek	el	«...»	“...” ‟...”						εισαγωγικά (eisagogiká, introductory marks)
Hebrew	he	”...„	’...‚		"..."	'...'			מֵירְכָאוֹת (merkha'ot)	Not to be confused with גֵּרְשַׁיִם (gershayim, double geresh typographical mark).
Hindi	hi	“...”	‘...’						उद्धरण चिह्न (uddharan chihn)
Hungarian	hu	„...”	»...«						„...” idézőjel (quotation mark) »...« belső idézőjel, lúdláb (inner quotation mark, goose feet) ’...’ félidézőjel (half quotation mark, tertiary quotation mark) "..." macskaköröm (cat claws)	The three levels of Hungarian quotation: „...»...’...’...«...”
Icelandic	is	„...“	‚...‘ or ‘...’						tilvitnunarmerki gæsalappir (‘goose feet’)
Ido	io	« ... »	‘ ... ’						cito-hoketi (quotation hooks)
Indonesian	id	“...”	‘...’		”...”	’...’			tanda kutip, tanda petik (quote mark)	Usage of alternative marks seen among the literature by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Indonesian.
Interlingua	ia	“...”	‘...’						virgulettas (small commas)
Irish	ga	“...”	‘...’					1–2 pt	liamóg (William)
Italian	it	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’			virgolette (small commas)
Japanese	ja	「...」 「...」	『...』 『...』					Fullwidth form	「...」 鉤括弧 (kagi kakko; hook bracket) 『...』 二重鉤括弧 (nijū kagi kakko; double hook bracket)	Occasionally, other symbols, such as “...”, are used stylistically. Quotes are almost always followed by particle と.
Kazakh	kk	«...»	„...“		“...”				тырнақша (tyrnaqşa)
Karakalpak	kaa	«...»			“...”				tırnaqsha (tırnaqsha)
Khmer	km	«...»			“...”				សញ្ញាសម្រង់ (saññā samráng, quotation mark)
Korean, North Korea	ko_KP	《...》	〈...〉						〈...〉 홑화살괄호 (hot'hwasalkwalho, arrow bracket) 《...》 겹화살괄호 (kyŏp'hwasalkwalho, double arrow bracket)
Korean, South Korea	ko_KR	“...”	‘...’		『...』	「...」			“...” 쌍따옴표 (ssang-ttaompyo, double quotation mark) ‘...’ 따옴표 (ttaompyo, quotation mark) 「...」 낫표 (natpyo, sickle symbol) 『...』 겹낫표 (gyeomnatpyo, double sickle symbol)
Lao	lo	“...”							ວົງຢືມ (vong yum)
Latvian	lv	“...” „...”			«...»				“...” / „...” pēdiņas «...» stūrainās pēdiņas
Lithuanian	lt	„...“	‚...‘						kabutės
Lojban	jbo	lu ... li’u			lu “...” li’u				Double quotes are not officially named in Lojban, but sometimes called lubu, following the same pattern as vowel letters, e.g. ⟨a⟩ = abu	Lojban uses the words lu and li’u, rather than punctuation, to surround quotes of grammatically correct Lojban. Double quotes can also be used for aesthetic purposes. Non-Lojban text may be quoted using zoi.
Macedonian	mk	„...“	’...‘						„...“ наводници (navodnitsi, double quote) ’...‘ полунаводници (polunavodnitsi, single quote)
Maltese	mt	“...”	‘...’						Virgoletti
Mongolian, Cyrillic script	mn	«...»	„...“		„...“
Mongolian, Mongolian script	mn	⟪...⟫	⟨...⟩
New Tai Lue	khb	《...》	〈...〉
Norwegian	no	«...»	‘...’		„...“	,...‘			anførselstegn (quotation marks) gåseauge, gåseøyne (goose eyes) hermeteikn, hermetegn sitatteikn, sitattegn dobbeltfnutt
Occitan	oc	«...»	“...”		“...”	«...»			guilheumets, verguetas
Pashto	ps	«...»
Persian	fa	«...»							گیومه (giyume, guillaume)
Polish	pl	„...”	»...«		«...»	‘...’		none	cudzysłów (someone else's word)
Portuguese, Brazil	pt_BR	“...”	‘...’						aspas (quotation marks) aspas duplas (double quotation marks) aspas simples (single quotation marks) “...” aspas curvas, aspas inglesas, aspas altas, aspas levantadas, aspas elevadas (curved quotation marks) «...» aspas angulares, aspas latinas, vírgulas dobradas, aspas em linha (angular quotation marks)
Portuguese, Portugal	pt_PT	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’
Romanian	ro	„...”	«...»					none	ghilimele (quotes)
Romansh	rm	«...»	‹...›
Russian	ru	«...»	„...“		“...”	‘...’		none	кавычки (kavychki) «...» ёлочки (yolochki, little spruces) „...“ лапки (lapki, little paws)
Serbian	sr	„...”	’...’		„...“	‘...’			„...” наводници (navodnici), знаци навода (znaci navoda) ’...’ полунаводници (polunavodnici)
Scottish Gaelic	gd	‘...’	“...”		“...”	‘...’			cromagan turrach
Slovak	sk	„...“	‚...‘		»...«	›...‹			úvodzovky (introduce)
Slovene	sl	„...“	‚...‘		»...«	›...‹			navednice
Sorbian	wen hsb dsb	„...“	‚...‘
Spanish	es	«...»	“...”		“...”	‘...’			comillas «...» comillas latinas, comillas angulares “...” comillas inglesas dobles ‘...’ comillas inglesas simples
Spanish, Latin America	es-419	“...”	‘...’		“...”	«...»			comillas “...” comillas inglesas dobles ‘...’ comillas inglesas simples «...» comillas angulares, comillas latinas
Swedish	sv	”...”	’...’		»...» »...«	’...’			citationstecken, anföringstecken citattecken (modern term) dubbelfnutt (ASCII double quote) kaninöron (bunny ears)
Tai Le	tdd	《...》	〈...〉
Tibetan	bo	《...》	〈...〉
Tigrinya	ti	«...»	‹...›		“...”	‘...’
Thai	th	“...”	‘...’						อัญประกาศ (anyaprakat, differentiating mark), ฟันหนู (fạnh̄nū, mouse teeth)
Turkish	tr	“...”	‘...’		«...»	‹...›		0–1 pt	tırnak işareti (fingernail mark)
Ukrainian	uk	«...»	“...” „...“		„...”			none	лапки (lapky, little paws)
Urdu	ur	“...”	‘...’						واوین (wāwain)
Uyghur	ug	«...»	‹...›					none	قوش تىرناق (qosh tirnaq) يالاڭ تىرناق (yalang tirnaq)
Uzbek	uz	«...» (Cyrillic) “...” (Latin)	„...“ (Cyrillic) ‘...’ (Latin)		„...“	‚...‘			qoʻshtirnoq (nails)
Vietnamese	vi	“...”			« ... »			NBSP (optional)	dấu ngoặc kép (paired parentheses) dấu nháy kép (paired blinking marks)
Welsh	cy	‘...’	“...”		“...”	‘...’		1–2 pt	dyfynodau

Specific language features

Bulgarian

Contemporary Bulgarian employs the em dash or the quotation dash (the horizontal bar) followed by a space character at the beginning of each direct-speech segment by a different character in order to mark direct speech in prose and in most journalistic question and answer interviews; in such cases, the use of standard quotation marks is left for in-text citations or to mark the names of institutions, companies, and sometimes also brand or model names.

Air quotes are also widely used in face-to-face communication in contemporary Bulgarian but usually resemble " ... " (secondary: ' ... ') unlike written Bulgarian quotation marks.

Dutch

The standard form in the preceding table is taught in schools and used in handwriting. Most large newspapers have kept these low-high quotation marks, „ and ”; otherwise, the alternative form with single or double English-style quotes is now often the only form seen in printed matter. Neutral (straight) quotation marks, " and ', are used widely, especially in texts typed on computers and on websites.

Although not generally common in the Netherlands any more, double angle (guillemet) quotation marks are still sometimes used in Belgium. Examples include the Flemish HUMO magazine and the Metro newspaper in Brussels.

German

Different forms of German and English quotation marks and similar looking signs

The symbol used as the left (typographical) quote in English is used as the right quote in Germany and Austria and a "low double comma" „ (not used in English) is used for the left quote. Its single quote form ‚ looks like a comma.

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description	Wrong Symbols
‚A‘	U+201A (8218) U+2018 (8216)	‚ ‘	German single quotes (left and right)	, – comma (U + 002C) left ' – apostrophe (U+0027) right
„A“	U+201E (8222) U+201C (8220)	„ “	German double quotes (left and right)	" – neutral (vertical) double quotes (U+0022)

Some fonts, e.g. Verdana, were not designed with the flexibility to use an English left quote as a German right quote. Such fonts are therefore typographically incompatible with this German usage.

Double quotes are standard for denoting speech in German.

Andreas fragte mich: „Hast du den Artikel ‚EU-Erweiterung‘ gelesen?“ (Andreas asked me: "Have you read the 'EU Expansion' article?")

This style of quoting is also used in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Georgian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene and in Ukrainian. In Bulgarian, Icelandic, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Russian, single quotation marks are not used.

Sometimes, especially in novels, guillemets (angled quotation marks) are used in Germany and Austria (but pointing in the opposite direction compared to French): »A ›B‹?«

Andreas fragte mich: »Hast du den Artikel ›EU-Erweiterung‹ gelesen?«
Andreas asked me: "Have you read the 'EU Expansion' article?"

In Switzerland, the French-style angle quotation mark sets are also used for German printed text: «A ‹B›?»

Andreas fragte mich: «Hast du den Artikel ‹EU-Erweiterung› gelesen?»
Andreas asked me: 'Have you read the "EU Expansion" article?'

Finnish and Swedish

In Finnish and Swedish, right quotes, called citation marks, ”...”, are used to mark both the beginning and the end of a quote. Double right-pointing angular quotes, »...», can also be used.

Alternatively, an en-dash followed by a (non-breaking) space can be used to denote the beginning of quoted speech, in which case the end of the quotation is not specifically denoted (see section Quotation dash below). A line-break should not be allowed between the en-dash and the first word of the quotation.

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description
’A’	U+2019 (8217)	’	Secondary level quotation
”A”	U+201D (8221)	”	Primary level quotation
»A»	U+00BB (187)	»	Alternative primary level quotation
– A	U+2013 (8211)	–	Alternative denotation at the beginning of quoted speech

French

French uses angle quotation marks (guillemets, or duck-foot quotes), adding a 'quarter-em space' within the quotes. With proper localization, computers automatically add the proper spacing. When localization is not available, many people use a non-breaking space between the quotation mark and the nearest word inside it because the difference between a non-breaking space and a four-per-em space is virtually imperceptible, many computer fonts do not include a quarter-em space, and the Unicode quarter-em space is breakable. Even more commonly, many people put a normal (breaking) space inside the quotation marks because the non-breaking space cannot be accessed easily from the keyboard, or because they are not aware of this typographical refinement. Using a breakable space of any kind often results in a quotation mark appearing alone at the beginning of a line, since the quotation mark is erroneously treated as an independent word.

« Voulez-vous un sandwich, Henri ? »
“Would you like a sandwich, Henri?”

French news sites such as Libération, Les Échos and Le Figaro do not add manual spacing, leaving it up to localization and the browser to space the guillemets properly.

Sample	Unicode (decimal) HTML		Description
	Quote	Space
« A »	U+00AB (171) « U+00BB (187) »	U+00A0 (160)  	French double angle quotes (left and right), legacy (approximative) spacing usual on the web, with normal (four per em) no-break space (justifying, thus inappropriate)
« A »		U+202F (8239)  	French double angle quotes (left and right), correct spacing used by typographers, with narrow (six per em) non-breaking spaces, represented on the web using narrow no-break space
«A»			French double angle quotes (left and right) without space (not recommended in French)
‹ A ›	U+2039 (8249) ‹ U+203A (8250) ›	U+00A0 (160)  	French single angle quotes (left and right), alternate form for embedded quotations, legacy (approximative) spacing usual on the web, with normal (four per em) no-break space (justifying, thus inappropriate)
‹ A ›		U+202F (8239)  	French single angle quotes (left and right), alternate form for embedded quotations, correct spacing used by typographers, with narrow (six per em) non-breaking spaces, represented on the web using narrow no-break space
‹A›			French single angle quotes (left and right) without space (not recommended in French)

Guillemets by the Imprimerie nationale in Bulletin de l’Agence générale des colonies, No. 302, Mai 1934, showing the comma-shaped symbols sitting on the baseline

Initially, the French guillemets were not angle shaped but also used the comma (6/9) shape. They were different from English quotes because they were standing (like today's guillemets) on the baseline (like lowercase letters), not raised above it (like apostrophes and English quotation marks) or hanging below it (like commas). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this shape evolved to look like (( small parentheses )). The angle shape was introduced later to make them easier to distinguish from apostrophes, commas and parentheses in handwritten manuscripts submitted to publishers. Unicode currently does not provide alternate codes for these 6/9 guillemets on the baseline, as they are considered to be form variants of guillemets, implemented in older French typography (such as the Didot font design). With this older style there was also not necessarily any distinction of shape between the opening and closing guillemets; both often pointed to the right (as today's French closing guillemets do).

In old-style printed books, when quotations span multiple lines of text (including multiple paragraphs), an additional closing quotation sign is traditionally used at the beginning of each line continuing a quotation; this right-pointing guillemet at the beginning of a line does not close the current quotation. This convention was consistently used from the beginning of the 19th century by most book printers, but is no longer in use today. Such insertion of continuation quotation marks was rigidly maintained, even at a word hyphenation break. Since these continuation marks are obsolete in French, there is no support for automatic insertion of continuation guillemets in HTML or CSS, nor in word-processors. Old-style typesetting is emulated by breaking up the final layout with manual line breaks, and inserting the quotation marks at line start, much like angle brackets before quoted plain text e-mail:

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient
» le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la crois-
» sance économique. »

Unlike English, French does not identify unquoted material within a quotation by using a second set of quotation marks. Compare:

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »
"This is a great day for Montrealers", the minister maintained. "These investments will stimulate economic growth."

For clarity, some newspapers put nested quoted material in italics:

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »

The French Imprimerie nationale (cf. Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'Imprimerie nationale, presses de l'Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 2002) does not use different quotation marks for nesting quotes:

« Son « explication » n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.
"His 'explanation' is just a lie", the deputy protested.

In this case, when there should be two adjacent opening or closing marks, only one is written:

Il répondit : « Ce n’est qu’un « gadget ! ».
He answered: "It's only a 'gizmo'."

The use of English quotation marks is increasing in French and usually follows English rules, for instance in situations when the keyboard or the software context doesn't allow the use of guillemets. The French news site L'Humanité uses straight quotation marks along with angle ones.

English quotes are also used sometimes for nested quotations:

« Son “explication” n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.
"His 'explanation' is just a lie", the deputy protested.

But the most frequent convention used in printed books for nested quotations is to style them in italics. Single quotation marks are much more rarely used, and multiple levels of quotations using the same marks is often considered confusing for readers:

« Son explication n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.
Il répondit : « Ce n’est qu’un gadget ! ».

Further, running dialogue does not use quotation marks beyond the first sentence, as changes in speaker are indicated by a dash, as opposed to the English use of closing and re-opening the quotation. (For other languages employing dashes, see section Quotation dash below.) The dashes may be used entirely without quotation marks as well. In general, quotation marks are extended to encompass as much speech as possible, including not just unspoken text such as "he said" (as previously noted), but also as long as the conversion extends. The quotation marks end at the last word of spoken text (rather than extending to the end of the paragraph) when the final part is not spoken.

« Je ne vous parle pas, monsieur, dit-il.

— Mais je vous parle, moi ! » s’écria le jeune homme exaspéré de ce mélange d’insolence et de bonnes manières, de convenance et de dédain. (Dumas, Les trois mousquetaires)

"I am not speaking to you, sir", he said.

"But I am speaking to you!" cried the young man, exasperated by this combination of insolence and good manners, of protocol and disdain.

Greek

Greek uses angled quotation marks (εισαγωγικά – isagogiká):

«Μιλάει σοβαρά;» ρώτησε την Μαρία.
«Ναι, σίγουρα», αποκρίθηκε.

and the quotation dash (παύλα – pávla):

― Μιλάει σοβαρά; ρώτησε την Μαρία.
― Ναι, σίγουρα, αποκρίθηκε.

which translate to:

"Is he serious?" he asked Maria.
"Yes, certainly," she replied.

A closing quotation mark, », is added to the beginning of each new paragraph within a quotation.

« Η Βικιπαίδεια ή Wikipedia είναι ένα συλλογικό εγκυκλοπαιδικό
» εγχείρημα που έχει συσταθεί στο Διαδίκτυο, παγκόσμιο, πολύγλωσσο,
» που λειτουργεί με την αρχή του wiki. »

When quotations are nested, the nested parts use English-style quotation marks, double and then (if necessary) single: «...“...‘...’...”...».

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description
«Α»	U+00AB (0171) U+00BB (0187)	« »	Greek first level double quotes (εισαγωγικά)
― Α	U+2014 (8212)	—	Greek direct quotation em-dash

Hungarian

According to current recommendation by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences the main Hungarian quotation marks are comma-shaped double quotation marks set on the base-line at the beginning of the quote and at apostrophe-height at the end of it for first level, („Quote”), reversed »French quotes« without space (the German tradition) for the second level, and thus the following nested quotation pattern emerges:

• „Quote »inside« quote”

... and with third level:

• „Quote »inside ’inside of inside’ inside« quote”

In Hungarian linguistic tradition the meaning of a word is signified by uniform (unpaired) apostrophe-shaped quotation marks:

• die Biene ’méh’

A quotation dash is also used, and is predominant in belletristic literature.

• – Merre jártál? – kérdezte a köpcös.

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description
„A”	U+201E (8222) U+201D (8221)	„ ”	Hungarian first level double quotes (left and right)
»A«	U+00BB (0171) U+00AB (0187)	» «	Hungarian second level double quotes (left and right)
’A’	U+2019 (8217)	’	Hungarian unpaired quotes signifying "meaning of the preceding term"

Hebrew

In Israel, the traditional practice in printing and handwriting is to use „low-high” quote marks. Since the 2000s, the plain quotes have become more common. The 2013 revision of the SI-1452 standard for Hebrew keyboard, available since 2012 in Windows 8 and in desktop Linux systems, supports both systems, as does the Gboard keyboard for touchscreen devices.

Norwegian

Norwegian uses angled quotation marks (Anførselstegn)

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description
«Α»	U+00AB (0171) U+00BB (0187)	« »

Polish

According to current PN-83/P-55366 standard from 1983 (but not dictionaries, see below), Typesetting rules for composing Polish text (Zasady składania tekstów w języku polskim) one can use either „ordinary Polish quotes” or «French quotes» (without space) for first level, and ‚single Polish quotes’ or «French quotes» for second level, which gives three styles of nested quotes:

1. „Quote ‚inside’ quote”
2. „Quote «inside» quote”
3. «Quote ‚inside’ quote»

There is no space on the internal side of quote marks, with the exception of 1⁄4 firet (≈ 1⁄4 em) space between two quotation marks when there are no other characters between them (e.g. ,„ and ’”).

The above rules have not changed since at least the previous BN-76/7440-02 standard from 1976 and are probably much older.

These rules on the use of guillemets conflict with the ones given by Polish dictionaries, including the Wielki Słownik Ortograficzny PWN recommended by the Polish Language Council. The PWN rules state:

In specific uses, guillemets also appear. Guillemet marks pointing inwards are used for highlights and in case a quotation occurs inside a quotation. Guillemet marks pointing outwards are used for definitions (mainly in scientific publications and dictionaries), as well as for enclosing spoken lines and indirect speech, especially in poetic texts.

In Polish printed books and publications, this dictionary-recommended style for guillemets (also known as »German quotes«) is used almost exclusively. In addition to being standard for second level quotes, guillemet quotes are sometimes used as first level quotes in headings and titles, but almost never for ordinary text in paragraphs.

Another style of quoting is to use an em-dash to open a quote; this is used almost exclusively for quoting dialogues rather than for single statements, and is virtually always the one used for that purpose in works of fiction.

Mag skłonił się. Biały kot śpiący obok paleniska ocknął się nagle i spojrzał na niego badawczo.

— Jak się nazywa ta wieś, panie? — zapytał przybysz. Kowal wzruszył ramionami.
— Głupi Osioł.
— Głupi...?
— Osioł — powtórzył kowal takim tonem, jakby wyzywał gościa, żeby spróbował sobie z niego zażartować. Mag zamyślił się.
— Ta nazwa ma pewnie swoją historię — stwierdził w końcu. — W innych okolicznościach chętnie bym jej wysłuchał. Ale chciałbym porozmawiać z tobą, kowalu, o twoim synu.

The wizard bowed. A white cat that had been sleeping by the furnace woke up and watched him carefully.
“What is the name of this place, sir?” said the wizard.
The blacksmith shrugged.
“Stupid Donkey,” he said. [original English version is "Bad Ass", but that's not a common phrase in Polish]
“Stupid—?”
“Donkey,” repeated the blacksmith, his tone defying anyone to make something of it.
The wizard considered this.
“A name with a story behind it,” he said at last, “which were circumstances otherwise I would be pleased to hear. But I would like to speak to you, smith, about your son.”

(— Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites)

An en-dash is sometimes used in place of the em-dash, especially so in newspaper texts.

Samples	Unicode (decimal)	HTML	Description
‚A’	U+201A (8218) U+2019 (8217)	‚ ’	Polish single quotes (left and right)
„A”	U+201E (8222) U+201D (8221)	„ ”	Polish double quotes (left and right)
— A	U+2014 (8212)	—	Polish direct quotation em-dash
– A	U+2013 (8211)	–	Polish direct quotation en-dash

Portuguese

Neither the Portuguese language regulator nor the Brazilian prescribe a particular shape for quotation marks, they only prescribe when and how they should be used.

In Portugal, angular quotation marks (ex. «quote») are traditionally used. They are the Latin tradition quotation marks, normally used by typographers, and are also the usual style in reference sources, as well as on some websites dedicated to the Portuguese language.

The Código de Redação for Portuguese-language documents published in the European Union prescribes three levels of quotation marks, «...“...‘...’...”...»:

E estava escrito «Alguém perguntou “Quem foi que gritou ‘Meu Deus!’?”.» na folha de papel.
And it was written “Someone asked ‘Who shouted “My God!”?’.” on the sheet of paper.

• in black: main sentence which contains the quotations;
• in green: 1st level quotation;
• in red: 2nd level quotation;
• in blue: 3rd level quotation;

The usage of curved quotation marks (ex. “quote” and ‘quote’) is growing in Portugal, probably due to the omnipresence of the English language and to the corresponding difficulty (or even inability) to enter angular quotation marks on some machines (mobile phones, cash registers, calculators, etc.).

In Brazil, angular quotation marks are rare, and curved quotation marks (“quote” and ‘quote’) are almost always used. An example of this can be seen in the difference between a Portuguese keyboard (which has a key for « and ») and a Brazilian keyboard.

The Portuguese-speaking African countries tend to follow Portugal's conventions, not the Brazilian ones.

Other usages of quotation marks (“quote„ for double, ‹quote› for single) are obsolete in Portuguese..

Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian

In Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian, the angled quotation marks (Belarusian: «двукоссе», Russian: «кавычки», Ukrainian: «лапки») are used without spaces. In case of quoted material inside a quotation, rules and most noted style manuals prescribe the use of different kinds of quotation marks.

Example in Russian:

Пушкин писал Дельвигу: «Жду „Цыганов“ и тотчас тисну».

(Pushkin wrote to Delvig: "Waiting for 'Gypsies', and publish at once.")

Example in Ukrainian:

«І, звісно, не обійтись без користування словником. Один мій знайомий поет і літературознавець якось жартуючи сказав: “Я волію читати словники, ніж поеми. У словнику ті самі слова, що і в поемі, але подані в систематизованому порядку”. Це сказано жартома, але “читати словники” — не така вже дивовижна і дивацька річ, як може здатися».

("And, of course, you can't avoid using a dictionary. One of my acquaintances, a poet and literary critic, once jokingly said: 'I prefer to read dictionaries than poems. The dictionary has the same words as in the poem, but is presented in a systematic way'. It's a joke, but 'reading dictionaries' is not as amazing and bizarre as it may seem.")

Russian keyboard layout has no angled quotation marks, but has English quotation marks (" ") that are not even supposed to be used in Russian. For that reason one may often see non-standard use of English quotation marks on the Russian web.

Spanish

Spain

Spain uses angled quotation marks (comillas españolas, comillas latinas or angulares), with no space between the quotation mark and the quoted material.

«Esto es un ejemplo de cómo se suele hacer una cita literal en español».
"This is an example of how a literal quotation is usually written in Spanish."

When quotations are nested in more levels than inner and outer quotation, the system is:

«Antonio me dijo: “Vaya ‘cacharro’ que se ha comprado Julián”».
"Antonio told me, 'What a piece of "junk" Julián has purchased for himself'".

The use of English quotation marks is increasing in Spanish; the El País style guide, which is widely followed in Spain, recommends them. Hispanic Americans often use them, owing to influence from the United States.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean uses the English quotation marks double (“ ”) and single (‘ ’) due to influencing from the United States, despite the RAE recommends of the usage of the angled quotation marks (« »), angled can be used as alternative.

“Esto es un ejemplo de cómo se suele hacer una cita literal en español latinoamericano.”
"This is an example of how a literal quotation is usually written in Latin American Spanish."

Unlike Spain, Latin America uses a distinct order according to AML (Academia Mexicana de la Lengua).

“Juliana ayer me dijo: ‘Que pedazo de «cacharro» que se compró Lautaro’”.
"Juliana told me yesterday, 'What a piece of "scrap" Lautaro has purchased for himself'".

Some exceptions that in Caribbean, parts of French uses angled quotation marks, parts of Spanish (e. g. Dominican Republic) uses English ones.

Chinese, Japanese and Korean

Corner brackets are well-suited for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages, because they accommodate vertical and horizontal writing equally well. China, South Korea, and Japan all use corner brackets when writing vertically. Usage differs when writing horizontally:

• In Japan, corner brackets are used.
• In South Korea, corner brackets and English-style quotes are used.
• In North Korea, angle quotes are used.
• In mainland China, English-style quotes (full width “ ”) are official and prevalent; corner brackets are rare today. The Unicode code points used are the English quotes (rendered as fullwidth by the font), not the fullwidth forms.
• In Taiwan, Hong Kong and