Punctuation for direct speech

Romanian presents exact spoken words either inside Romanian quotation marks or as a new dialogue line. In Maria a spus: „Vin mâine.” (Maria said that she is coming tomorrow.), the colon introduces the quotation, the reproduced sentence begins with a capital, and its period stays inside the quotation marks.

How do you frame direct speech?

Choose one presentation pattern: use „...” for a quotation embedded in the surrounding sentence, or use a dialogue line beginning with – for each speaker's turn. Do not combine both markers in the same basic format.

What goes before a quotation?

When a reporting clause comes first and the quotation is a complete reproduced utterance, end the reporting clause with a colon, then open the quotation marks and begin the utterance with a capital.

1. Write the reporting clause: Maria a spus (Maria said).
2. Add a colon because the next words reproduce the message: Maria a spus:
3. Open the quotation marks and write the original utterance with its own capitalization: „Vin mâine.”
4. Close the quotation marks after the utterance's final punctuation: Maria a spus: „Vin mâine.”

This colon pattern works with statements, questions, and commands: Maria a întrebat: „Vii mâine?” (Maria asked, “Are you coming tomorrow?”) and Maria a strigat: „Așteaptă!” (Maria shouted for someone to wait.)

What happens when the reporting clause follows?

When the quotation comes first, separate it from the reporting clause with a comma in the basic attribution pattern. A question mark, exclamation mark, or ellipsis belonging to the quoted words remains, and the attribution begins with a lowercase letter: „Vii mâine?”, a întrebat Maria. (Maria asked, “Are you coming tomorrow?”)

How do dialogue lines work?

In a dialogue layout, start each speaker's turn on a new line with the dialogue dash –. The dash marks the beginning of direct speech, so the basic layout does not also put quotation marks around the turn.

• Give each speaker a new line: – Plecăm la opt. (We are leaving at eight.) / – Bine, te aștept. (All right, I will wait for you.)
• Use the same dialogue-dash style throughout a text. The dialogue dash is longer than the hyphen in a form such as m-a and is separated from the following words by a space.
• If the reporting clause follows the turn, use a comma before it: – Plecăm la opt, a spus Maria. (We are leaving at eight, Maria said.)
• Do not write the basic line as – „Plecăm la opt.”; the dash and quotation marks would be two competing presentation frames.

Where does final punctuation go?

Treat the reproduced words as an utterance with their own intonation. A statement takes a period, a question takes a question mark, an emotional command can take an exclamation mark, and an unfinished or hesitant turn can take an ellipsis. In a quotation, that mark comes before the closing quotation mark.

Which capitals and quotation marks should you use?

A complete direct-speech turn introduced after a colon or a dialogue dash begins with a capital: Maria a spus: „Plec acum.” and – Plec acum. The reporting clause after a quoted turn normally begins with a lowercase letter: „Plec acum”, a spus Maria. A short word or phrase merely mentioned inside a sentence is different from a complete direct-speech turn: Termenul „dialog” apare în text. (The term dialogue appears in the text.)

• Use the Romanian paired quotation marks „...” for an ordinary embedded quotation. If a quotation contains another quotation, typographic systems may use «...» for the inner layer; keep the levels consistent.
• Do not put a space just inside the quotation marks: write „Vin mâine.”, not „ Vin mâine. ”.
• Do not confuse a dialogue dash – with the Romanian hyphen - in forms such as m-a. They have different jobs and spacing.
• Do not capitalize the reporting verb merely because it follows a quoted question or exclamation: write „Vii?”, a întrebat Maria., not „Vii?”, A întrebat Maria.

What register variation should you recognize?

The punctuation frame is compatible with neutral, formal, conversational, and literary writing. In literary narrative, the speech verb may appear in the simple perfect after the dialogue line: – Vin imediat, zise Maria. (I am coming immediately, Maria said.) Neutral contemporary prose can use the compound perfect instead: – Vin imediat, a spus Maria. (I am coming immediately, Maria said.) The punctuation stays the same; the verb choice adds a narrative register effect.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use a comma where the complete quotation is introduced by a reporting clause: write Maria a spus: „Vin mâine.”, not Maria a spus, „Vin mâine.”.
• Do not leave the colon out of the basic reporting-clause-first pattern: write Maria a întrebat: „Vii?”.
• Do not put a full stop before a reporting clause that follows a declarative quotation in this pattern: write „Plec acum”, a spus Maria., not „Plec acum.”, a spus Maria.
• Do not capitalize a spus, a întrebat, or a răspuns after the quoted turn unless it begins a new independent sentence.
• Do not mix a dialogue dash and quotation marks for the same basic dialogue turn, and do not replace the dialogue dash with a short hyphen.