Chinese writes on an even grid: every character is one square cell of the same size. The punctuation is built to match that grid, which is why it looks and behaves differently from English punctuation. The marks are full-width (全角, quánjiǎo) — each one fills a whole cell and is followed by no space — and several of them are shapes English simply does not have. This page walks through the marks you will meet every day, the two that most often trip up English writers (the circle period and the enumeration comma), and how to stop your Chinese text from carrying an English accent.
Full-width: one mark, one cell, no space
The single habit to break first is the space. In English you type a mark and then a space: "Hello, world." In Chinese the mark itself is wide — it already contains its own breathing room inside the cell — so you add no space after it. The next character butts right up against it.
你好，我叫王明。
Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Wáng Míng.
Hi, my name is Wang Ming. (informal) — note: no space after the comma; the mark fills its own cell.
Compare the widths: an English comma "," is a thin half-width mark; the Chinese comma "，" occupies a full cell. The same is true of every mark below. If your Chinese text has narrow English punctuation with spaces after it, it reads the way "hello ，world" reads to you — subtly broken.
The period is a small circle: 。
The Chinese full stop is not a dot. It is a small hollow circle, 。 (句号, jùhào), sitting in the lower-left of its cell. Ending a sentence with an English "." is one of the most common and most visible mistakes a learner makes.
今天是星期天。
Jīntiān shì xīngqītiān.
Today is Sunday. (everyday) — the sentence ends with the circle 。, never a dot.
我住在北京，他住在上海。
Wǒ zhù zài Běijīng, tā zhù zài Shànghǎi.
I live in Beijing, he lives in Shanghai. (neutral) — clause comma ， inside, circle 。 at the end.
Two different commas: ， and 、
Here is the distinction with no equivalent in English, and the one worth learning carefully. Chinese has two commas, and they are not interchangeable:
- ， the clause comma (逗号, dòuhào) — separates clauses and marks pauses, exactly like the English comma.
- 、 the enumeration comma (顿号, dùnhào) — separates the items in a list. English uses the ordinary comma for both jobs; Chinese splits them.
When you list nouns — apples, bananas, oranges — you must use the enumeration comma 、 between the items, not ，:
我买了苹果、香蕉、橘子和西瓜。
Wǒ mǎile píngguǒ, xiāngjiāo, júzi hé xīguā.
I bought apples, bananas, oranges, and watermelon. (everyday) — 、 between each list item; 和 (and) before the last, with no 、.
他会说中文、英文和法文。
Tā huì shuō Zhōngwén, Yīngwén hé Fǎwén.
He speaks Chinese, English, and French. (neutral) — the languages are separated by 、.
Using ， where 、 is required is a real and frequent error. The rule of thumb: if you are running down a list of parallel items (nouns, adjectives, short options), reach for 、; if you are separating whole clauses or marking a breath, reach for ，.
Titles go in 《》, not in italics
Chinese does not italicise or underline the names of books, films, songs, or newspapers. Instead it wraps them in title marks, 《》 (书名号, shūmínghào) — angle brackets that hug the title. For a title nested inside another title, the single form 〈〉 is used.
我最近在读《红楼梦》。
Wǒ zuìjìn zài dú《Hóng Lóu Mèng》.
I've been reading Dream of the Red Chamber lately. (neutral) — the book title sits inside 《》.
你看过《卧虎藏龙》吗？
Nǐ kànguo《Wò Hǔ Cáng Lóng》ma?
Have you seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? (informal) — a film title, also in 《》.
Quotation marks: “ ” and 「」
Mainland (Simplified) standard uses the full-width curly quotes “ ” for speech and quotation, with ‘ ’ for a quote inside a quote:
他说：“我马上就来。”
Tā shuō: “Wǒ mǎshàng jiù lái.”
He said, 'I'll be right there.' (everyday) — a full-width colon 冒号, then the quotation in “ ”.
In Taiwan and Hong Kong, and increasingly in stylised Mainland text, you will instead see the corner brackets 「」 (with 『』 for the inner quote). Both are correct depending on region; recognise both.
老师说：「请安静。」
Lǎoshī shuō: 「Qǐng ānjìng.」
The teacher said, 'Please be quiet.' (neutral, Taiwan-style corner brackets)
The other everyday marks
The remaining marks mostly mirror English in function while being full-width in form. Note the shapes:
| Mark | Name | Job |
|---|---|---|
| ？ | 问号 wènhào | question mark (full-width) |
| ！ | 感叹号 gǎntànhào | exclamation mark (full-width) |
| ： | 冒号 màohào | colon |
| ； | 分号 fēnhào | semicolon |
| （ ） | 括号 kuòhào | parentheses (full-width) |
| —— | 破折号 pòzhéhào | dash — spans two cells |
| …… | 省略号 shěnglüèhào | ellipsis — six dots over two cells |
| · | 间隔号 jiàngéhào | middle dot in foreign names |
你叫什么名字？
Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
What's your name? (informal) — the question mark is the full-width ？.
太好了！我们终于成功了！
Tài hǎo le! Wǒmen zhōngyú chénggōng le!
Fantastic! We finally did it! (informal) — full-width exclamation marks ！.
Two shapes surprise English writers. The dash —— is a long line spanning two cells (not the short English hyphen), and the ellipsis …… is six dots across two cells (not three). The middle dot · separates the parts of a transliterated foreign name — 奥巴马 becomes 巴拉克·奥巴马 for "Barack Obama."
Common Mistakes
1. Ending a sentence with an English dot instead of the circle. The Chinese period is 。, a small hollow circle — this is the single most recognisable learner slip.
❌ 我是学生.
Incorrect — an English dot; Chinese uses the circle period.
✅ 我是学生。
Wǒ shì xuésheng.
I am a student. — sentence closed with the circle 。.
2. Using the clause comma ， to separate list items. Between parallel items in a list, the enumeration comma 、 is required.
❌ 苹果，香蕉，橘子
Incorrect — list items must be joined with the enumeration comma, not the clause comma.
✅ 苹果、香蕉、橘子
píngguǒ, xiāngjiāo, júzi
apples, bananas, oranges — 、 separates the items.
3. Adding a space after punctuation, English-style. Chinese marks are full-width and take no following space. "你好， 我叫小王" with a space after the comma looks broken.
✅ 你好，我叫小王。
Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Xiǎo Wáng.
Hi, I'm Xiao Wang. — no space after the comma or before the next character.
4. Italicising or quoting book/film titles. Chinese has no italics for titles and does not put them in quotation marks; wrap them in 《》.
❌ 我在读“红楼梦”。
Incorrect — a title takes 《》, not quotation marks.
✅ 我在读《红楼梦》。
Wǒ zài dú《Hóng Lóu Mèng》.
I'm reading Dream of the Red Chamber. — title marks 《》.
5. Using half-width English marks throughout. Typing ?, !, ,, : from a Latin keyboard yields narrow half-width marks. Set your pinyin IME to Chinese punctuation mode so it produces the full-width ？！，： automatically.
Key Takeaways
- Chinese punctuation is full-width: each mark fills a whole character cell and takes no following space.
- The period is a small hollow circle 。, not a dot — the most visible learner error.
- There are two commas: the clause comma ， and the enumeration comma 、 (dùnhào), which separates the items in a list — do not swap them.
- Titles go inside 《》 (never italics or quotes); quotation uses “ ” on the Mainland and 「」 in Taiwan/Hong Kong.
- The dash —— spans two cells and the ellipsis …… is six dots — both wider than their English cousins.
Now practice Chinese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Chinese→Related Topics
- Chinese Numerals (一二三) vs Arabic DigitsHSK 1 — Numbers can be written two ways in real Chinese text — with numeral characters 一二三四五六七八九十 or with Arabic digits 1 2 3 — and both are normal; the characters build transparently (十一 eleven, 二十 twenty, 一百 one hundred), Arabic digits dominate prices, dates, and phone numbers, and the numeral characters dominate formal, literary, and idiomatic writing, plus a separate anti-fraud set 壹贰叁 used on financial documents.
- What Chinese Characters (汉字) AreHSK 1 — Chinese is written with 汉字 (hànzì), a logographic, morphosyllabic script in which each character writes one syllable and usually one meaningful unit — a fixed inventory of recombinable building blocks, not an alphabet and not a gallery of tiny pictures.
- Typing Chinese (the Pinyin IME)HSK 2 — Almost everyone types Chinese with a pinyin IME (input method editor): you type the romanized sound — nihao, zhongguo — and the software offers a candidate list of characters, using context and frequency to guess whole words and phrases so you type several syllables and press space; the catch is that you must know a character's pronunciation to type it, and homophones (shì → 是/事/市/试) force you to pick the right candidate.