How to use brackets in Spanish

Guide to Spanish brackets ( )

Brackets or parentheses (los paréntesis) are used to add additional, secondary or clarifying information.

You can also enclose additional information in commas or dashes.

Read on to learn about brackets in Spanish with Lingolia.

Contents

Clarifications

Use brackets to insert a clarification.

Example:
El conocido como «Príncipe de los Ingenios» (Miguel de Cervantes) es homenajeado cada año durante la Feria del Libro de Madrid.The one known as “The Prince of Wits” (Miguel de Cervantes) is honoured every year at the Madrid Book Festival.

Brackets are also used to add an alternative, such as the feminine or plural form of a word.

Example:
En la página web del Ministerio de Cultura se indica(n) el(los) día(s) en el(los) que tendrá lugar el homenaje.The day(s) on which the tribute will take place is(are) indicated on the Ministry of Culture’s website.

You can also use a slash (/) for this purpose.

Example:
En la página web del Ministerio de Cultura se indica/n el/los día/s en el/los que tendrá lugar el homenaje.The day/s on which the tribute will take place is/are indicated on the Ministry of Culture’s website.

Initials & acronyms

Use brackets to explain the meaning of initials and acronyms, or the other way around.

Examples:
OMT (Organización Mundial del Turismo)UNWTO/UN Tourism (United Nations World Tourism Organization)
Organización Mundial del Turismo (OMT)World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, por sus siglas en inglés)… by its acronym in English

Lists

Use single or double brackets to divide up items in a list.

Example:
Para enviar un voto por correo, el ciudadano deberá incluir además de las siguientes formas de identificación:To submit a postal vote, the voter must also include one of the following forms of identification:
(a) fotocopia del documento nacional de identidada photocopy of their national identity card
(b) fotocopia del pasaporte;a photocopy of their passport
(c) certificado de residencia en el extranjero.a certificate of residence abroad
Or:
a) fotocopia del documento nacional de identidad;
b) fotocopia del pasaporte;
c) certificado de residencia en el extranjero.

Plays

Stage directions and notes appear in brackets in plays. The character’s asides (the comments they make thinking no one else can hear them) are also written in brackets. Write the full stop at the end of the sentence within the closing bracket.

Example:
Jornada primera
(Sale en lo alto de un monte ROSAURA en hábito de hombre, de camino, y en representando los primeros versos va bajando.)
ROSAURA Hipogrifo violento,Day one
(ROSAURA enters at the top of a mountain dressed as a man, travelling. As she delivers the opening lines, she descends)
ROSAURA Violent hippogriff
La vida es sueño, Calderón de la Barca.
Example:
CLOTALDO (Aparte.)
(¡Santos cielos! ¿Qué es esto? Ya son más graves mis penas y confusiones, mis ansias y mis pesares.)
¿Quién te la dio?
ROSAURA Una mujer.CLOTALDO (apart)
(Holy heavens! What is this? My sorrows and confusion, my anguish and my grief are not even greater.)
Who gave it to you?
ROSAURA A woman.
La vida es sueño, Calderón de la Barca.

Quotes

Write an ellipsis in brackets (…) to indicate an omission within a quote.

Example:
«¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí. (…) Una ilusión, una sombra, una ficción, y el mayor bien es pequeño; que toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños, sueños son»."What is life? A frenzy. (…) An illusion, a shadow, a fiction, and even the greatest good is slight; for all of life is a dream, and dreams themselves are dreams".
La vida es sueño, Calderón de la Barca.

Use brackets to attribute a quote to its author.

Example:
Hay dos tipos de libertad: libertad positiva y libertad negativa (John Stuart Mill, Sobre la libertad).There are two types of freedom: positive and negative freedom (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty)

Translations

Put the translation of foreign words or expressions in brackets.

Example:
Apenas podía expresarse en francés; tan solo s’il vous plaît (por favor) y merci (gracias).I could barely speak in French, only s’il vous plaît (please) y merci (thank you).

Or the other way around.

Example:
En francés solo sé decir «por favor» (s’il vous plaît) y «gracias» (merci).I can only say ‘please’ (s’il vous plaît) and ‘thank you’ (merci) in French.

Mathematical formulae

In mathematical formulae, brackets enclose groups of operations that take priority.

Example:
(7 · 5) · 4,5 = 157,5

If several operations need to be enclosed, round brackets are used first, followed by square brackets ([]).

Example:
[(7 · 5) · 4,5] · 18 = 2835

Using brackets in combination with other punctuation marks

  • Punctuation that belongs to the sentence within the brackets is placed inside the brackets.
Example:
Don Quijote de la Macha se considera una novela revolucionaria (innovadora por la temática, estilo, tipo de personajes, etc.) y una de las mejores jamás escritas.Don Quixote is considered a revolutionary novel (innovative in its themes, style, types of characters, etc.) and one of the greatest ever written.
El famoso comienzo de la novela (¿quién no lo conoce?) se ha citado hasta la saciedad.The novel’s famous opening line (who doesn’t know it?) has been quoted ad nauseam.
  • Punctuation that belongs to the sentence outside the brackets is placed outside the brackets.
Example:
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (quien se cree que nació en Alcalá en 1547), conocido por su célebre Don Quijote de la Mancha, pasó unos meses encarcelado en Sevilla.Miguel de Cervantes (who is believed to have been born in Alcalá in 1547), known for his celebrated Don Quixote, spent a few months in prison in Seville.
«En un lugar de la mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme...» (Don Quijote de la Mancha).“In a village in La Mancha, the name of which I do not wish to recall…” (Don Quixote)
  • The final full stop is written outside the brackets.
Example:
La obra de Cervantes ha llegado a todos los rincones del mundo. (Solo ha sido superada en traducciones por la Biblia).Cervantes’work has reached every corner of the world. (It has only been surpassed in translations by the bible.)
  • Stage directions are an exception: here the full stop is written inside the brackets.
Example:
Jornada primera
(Sale en lo alto de un monte ROSAURA en hábito de hombre, de camino, y en representando los primeros versos va bajando.)
ROSAURA Hipogrifo violento,
La vida es sueño, Calderón de la Barca.