En español, el signo de exclamación se escribe al principio y al final.

In Spanish, names of languages are normally written in lowercase: español, inglés, francés.

So:

• En español = In Spanish
• not En Español

They are only capitalized if they are part of a proper name, such as a course title or an institution name.

When Spanish names a language in a general way, it usually does not use the article after en.

So:

• En español = In Spanish
• Hablo español = I speak Spanish

Using el would usually sound more specific, as if you meant the Spanish language in a particular sense, not the language in general.

Here, se escribe means is written.

This is a very common Spanish structure called passive se (or sometimes explained as an impersonal/passive construction). It is often used when Spanish prefers not to say who performs the action.

So:

• El signo de exclamación se escribe... = The exclamation mark is written...

A more literal way to think about it is:

• writes itself — but that is not the natural English translation

In normal English, is written is the best equivalent here.

Because the grammatical subject is singular: el signo de exclamación.

So the verb must also be singular:

• El signo ... se escribe

If the subject were plural, then the verb would be plural:

• Los signos de exclamación se escriben al principio y al final.

Even though there are two marks in actual use (¡ !), the sentence is talking about the punctuation sign as a general concept, so the singular is normal.

Al is the contraction of a + el.

So:

• a + el = al

Examples:

• al principio = at the beginning
• al final = at the end

This contraction is mandatory in Spanish whenever a and el come together, except with some proper names.

These are fixed, very common expressions in Spanish:

• al principio = at the beginning
• al final = at the end

Here, principio and final are being used as nouns. In this structure, the article is normal.

You will hear these expressions in many contexts:

• La película es aburrida al principio.
• Pon tu nombre al final.

Because Spanish is speaking about the punctuation mark as a type or system, not counting individual symbols.

This is very common in both Spanish and English. Compare:

• The question mark goes at the end.
• The exclamation mark is written at the beginning and the end.

If you wanted to focus on the two actual symbols, you could say something like:

• Los signos de exclamación van al principio y al final.

But the singular version is perfectly natural.

No. You may also hear signo de admiración.

Both are used, and both refer to ! / ¡ !. However, signo de exclamación is very common and very standard, so it is an excellent form to learn.

Plural:

• signos de exclamación
• signos de admiración

In standard written Spanish, yes. Exclamations normally take:

• an opening mark: ¡
• a closing mark: !

Example:

• ¡Qué sorpresa!

This is one of the big differences from English. In English, only the final ! is used.

In very informal texting or online writing, some native speakers omit the opening mark, but in correct standard Spanish, both are expected.

The comma separates the introductory phrase En español from the rest of the sentence.

So the structure is:

• En español, = introductory setting/topic
• el signo de exclamación se escribe... = main statement

This comma can help readability. In some cases, especially with short introductory phrases, Spanish may omit the comma, so En español el signo de exclamación... is also possible. But with the comma, the sentence is clear and natural.

Yes. Spanish word order is more flexible than English word order.

The given sentence is very natural:

• En español, el signo de exclamación se escribe al principio y al final.

But you could also say:

• En español, se escribe el signo de exclamación al principio y al final.

That version is grammatically possible, but it sounds a bit less neutral because it changes the information focus. For learners, the original version is the safest and most straightforward.

Yes. The standard rule for written Spanish everywhere is to use opening and closing exclamation marks:

• ¡ ... !

So this is not just a Spain-only rule. It applies across the Spanish-speaking world in formal writing.

The reason the sentence says En español is that this is a rule of the Spanish language itself, not of one country only.