Greek Punctuation: ; and · | Greek Grammar

Ninety percent of Greek punctuation is exactly what you already know: the full stop, the comma, the colon, the exclamation mark all look and behave as they do in English. The other ten percent is a genuine trap, because two marks share a shape with English punctuation but mean something completely different. Get these two right and your Greek writing instantly looks native; get them wrong and you mark yourself as a beginner in the very first sentence.

The one that surprises everyone: the question mark is `;`

In Greek, the question mark is written ; — the character that looks like a Latin semicolon. There is no curly ? in Greek at all.

Τι κάνεις;

Ti kánis;

How are you? / What are you doing?

Πώς σε λένε;

Pós se léne;

What's your name?

Μαρία, μπορείς να με βοηθήσεις;

María, borís na me voithísis;

Maria, can you help me?

This is not a stylistic choice or an old-fashioned convention — it is the Greek question mark, used in every newspaper, textbook, text message, and street sign. The character is technically the same code point as the Latin semicolon (;), but in a Greek text your brain must read it as "?".

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The single most common orthographic error English speakers make in Greek is typing the Latin ? where the Greek ; belongs. A Greek reader sees a stray ? as glaringly foreign — like writing English with a backwards question mark. Train the habit early: every Greek question ends in ;, never ?.

The Greek semicolon: a raised dot `·`

If ; is the question mark, how do you write an actual semicolon — the mark that joins two closely related clauses? Greek uses a raised dot ·, called the άνω τελεία (áno telía, "upper dot"). It sits at the top of the line, roughly where an apostrophe would, and it does the job of an English semicolon or light colon: it links two independent statements that belong together.

Δεν ήρθε· ήταν άρρωστος.

Dhen írthe· ítan árostos.

He didn't come; he was sick.

Έκανε πολλά λάθη· γι' αυτό απέτυχε.

Ékane polá láthi· yi aftó apétiche.

He made a lot of mistakes; that's why he failed.

The άνω τελεία is more of a literary and formal mark. In everyday texting and casual writing many Greeks skip it entirely, breaking the thought into two full-stop sentences instead. But you'll meet it constantly in books, newspapers, and formal prose, so you need to recognise it — and crucially, you must never reach for a plain ; to do this job, because to a Greek reader a ; is a question mark.

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Think of the two marks as a swap: the shape English uses for a semicolon (;) is Greek's question mark, and the job English gives the semicolon is done in Greek by the raised dot ·. Whenever you'd write a semicolon in English, in Greek you want the άνω τελεία.

Everything else is basically English

The remaining marks will feel familiar. Here is the full inventory:

Mark	Greek name	Job
.	τελεία (telía)	Full stop — ends a sentence, exactly as in English.
,	κόμμα (kóma)	Comma — pauses, lists, clauses, as in English.
;	ερωτηματικό (erotimatikó)	Question mark (semicolon shape!).
·	άνω τελεία (áno telía)	Semicolon / light colon — joins related clauses.
!	θαυμαστικό (thavmastikó)	Exclamation mark, as in English.
:	άνω και κάτω τελεία	Colon — introduces lists and quotations.
«…»	εισαγωγικά (isaghoyiká)	Quotation marks (guillemets — see below).
…	αποσιωπητικά	Ellipsis — trailing or unfinished thought.
—	παύλα (pávla)	Dash — asides; also opens dialogue lines.

Full stops and commas need no special comment — they work as you expect.

Με λένε Ελένη, χαίρω πολύ.

Me léne Eléni, chéro polí.

My name is Eleni, nice to meet you.

Τι ωραία μέρα!

Ti oréa méra!

What a lovely day!

Quotation marks: Greek prefers guillemets «…»

For quoting speech or marking a title, Greek's standard quotation marks are the angular «…» (called guillemets, or in Greek εισαγωγικά). The opening « points inward from the left, the closing » from the right. English-style curly quotes "…" do appear, especially online and in quick typing, but in careful writing the guillemets are the norm.

Μου είπε «θα έρθω αύριο».

Mu ípe «tha értho ávrio».

He told me, 'I'll come tomorrow.'

Στο εξώφυλλο έγραφε «Το Νησί».

Sto eksófilo éghrafe «To Nisí».

On the cover it read 'The Island.'

Notice that the guillemets hug the quoted text with no extra space, and the sentence's full stop sits outside the closing », just as in the examples above.

Typing Greek punctuation

This is where the swap becomes a practical hurdle. When you switch your keyboard to the Greek layout, the keys are not where you expect:

You want…	On the Greek keyboard, press…
the question mark ;	the Q key (top-left, where Latin "q" lives)
an accented vowel (ά, έ, ή, ί, ό, ύ, ώ)	the ; key (the accent "dead key"), then the vowel
the guillemets «…»	usually a long-press or an OS shortcut; on many layouts, right-Alt combinations

The one to memorise: on the Greek layout the physical ;/: key is repurposed as the accent (tonos) key. Press it and then a vowel to get ά, έ, ό, and so on. That is why, if your accents suddenly stop appearing, you've probably knocked the layout back to English. And to type the Greek question mark, you reach for the Q key.

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On phones it's simpler: switching the keyboard to Greek gives you a ; key that already produces the question mark, and holding a vowel offers its accented version. But on a physical keyboard, remember: Q types the question mark, and the ; key adds the accent.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the Latin ? for a Greek question. Greek's question mark is ;. A curly ? is simply not a Greek character.

❌ Τι ώρα είναι?

—

Wrong — Greek's question mark is ; (a semicolon shape), never ?.

✅ Τι ώρα είναι;

Ti óra íne;

What time is it?

2. Using a plain ; to join two clauses. To a Greek reader a ; is a question mark, so this reads as a bizarre question. Use the άνω τελεία · instead.

❌ Ήρθα νωρίς; έφυγα αργά.

—

Wrong — a plain ; reads as a question mark in Greek; to join clauses use the raised dot ·.

✅ Ήρθα νωρίς· έφυγα αργά.

Írtha norís· éfigha arghá.

I arrived early; I left late.

3. Reaching for English quotes in formal writing. Curly "…" are tolerated casually, but careful Greek uses the guillemets «…».

❌ Μου είπε "ναι".

—

Acceptable in casual chat, but formal Greek prefers the guillemets «…».

✅ Μου είπε «ναι».

Mu ípe «ne».

He said 'yes' to me.

4. Ending a sentence with the άνω τελεία. The raised dot joins clauses inside a sentence; it never closes one. End with a full stop.

❌ Καληνύχτα·

—

Wrong — the raised dot links clauses mid-sentence; end a sentence with a full stop.

✅ Καληνύχτα.

Kaliníchta.

Goodnight.

Key Takeaways

The Greek question mark is ; (a semicolon shape) — used everywhere, never the Latin ?. This is the number-one orthographic slip for English speakers.
The Greek semicolon is the raised dot · (άνω τελεία), which joins related clauses — mostly in formal and literary writing.
Commas, full stops, exclamation marks, and colons behave just like English.
Quotation marks are the guillemets «…» in careful writing; the full stop sits outside the closing ».
On a physical Greek keyboard, the Q key types ; (the question mark) and the ; key adds accents to vowels. See also yes/no questions and the ?-instead-of-; error page.

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The one that surprises everyone: the question mark is ;

The Greek semicolon: a raised dot ·