The most basic Spanish questions are those whose answer is “Sí” or “No”. In English we ask questions using auxiliaries like DO or DID, but in Spanish you just need to say the same sentence without any auxiliary changing its basic structure.
Asking questions is very important to keep a conversation flowing. The way we ask for or about something in Spanish is somewhat similar to English. One immediate difference is the use of question marks.
Question marks in Spanish are called SIGNOS DE INTERROGACIÓN. As a general rule, these punctuation marks are used at the beginning and at the end of all questions in the Spanish language. The question mark at the beginning should be placed upside down, whereas the question mark that comes at the end of the sentence should be written just like in English. When writing, it would be incorrect to omit either of the two Spanish question marks. Also note, when it comes to speaking, questions in Spanish have a different intonation sometimes.
Correct written form: ¿Estás estudiando español?
Incorrect written form: Estás estudiando español?
The verbs SER, ESTAR, TENER, PODER and HACER are often used to make Sí/No Spanish questions, so when someone asks using any of these verbs we can reply with SÍ or NO. Most of the time, we add information besides SÍ or NO, and more importantly, when we pronounce this type of basic Spanish question, the intonation should go up at the end.