# Spoken punctuation Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/glossary/spoken-punctuation > Spoken punctuation is saying the name of a mark or symbol, like "comma", "open paren", or "new paragraph", and having the dictation tool type the symbol instead of the word. The broader set of such phrases is usually called spoken commands. [Glossary](https://flit.fyi/glossary) / [What comes out](https://flit.fyi/glossary#output) Also: voice commands Updated October 4, 2026 Definition Spoken punctuation is saying the name of a mark or symbol, like "comma", "open paren", or "new paragraph", and having the dictation tool type the symbol instead of the word. The broader set of such phrases is usually called spoken commands. Speech has no punctuation, so a dictation tool has to get it from somewhere. For prose, a formatting pass can infer most of it from the rhythm of the sentence. For anything exact, a terminal, a spreadsheet formula, a bracketed aside, inference is not good enough, and the only reliable way to get a specific character is to ask for it by name. The set of commands a tool understands, and whether each one is resolved by a fixed rule or by a model guessing, is the difference between a tool you can use in a terminal and one you cannot. ## What a command set covers Punctuation: period, comma, question mark, colon. Symbols: dash, underscore, dollar sign, at sign, hash. Pairs: open and close paren, bracket, brace, and quotes, ideally closing themselves. Structure: new line, new paragraph, tab. Case: camel case, snake case, all caps, for the next word or phrase. Emoji by name. And an escape hatch for saying the word itself, "literally comma", when you mean the word and not the mark. ## Rules, not a model A command should map to exactly one output, every time, on every machine. That means a lookup, not an inference: "dash dash force" is --force by rule, and a model never sees it. Rule-based commands can be published in full, tested, and trusted in a terminal. Model-resolved commands are usually right, and "usually" is one broken flag away from a bad afternoon. ## When commands should be on Always, in terminals and code editors, where there is no other way to type a symbol by voice. Optionally, in prose, where a formatting pass punctuates for you and a spoken "comma" in an ordinary sentence would otherwise become a mark by accident. Commands are usually one language, most often English, because a half-understood command in the middle of a sentence is worse than none. ## How to dictate punctuation with Apple Dictation on a Mac The built-in Dictation feature on a Mac understands a published list of spoken commands. You can try them in any text field before you look at anything else. 1. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar, go to Dictation, and turn it on. 2. Click in a text field, then press the Microphone key if your keyboard has one, press your dictation shortcut, or choose Edit → Start Dictation. 3. Say a sentence and name the marks as you go, for example "thanks comma see you at noon period". 4. Say "new line" or "new paragraph" to break the text, and "open parenthesis" and "close parenthesis" to wrap an aside. 5. Say "all caps" before a word to capitalize all of it, or "numeral" before a number to get digits. 6. Press Escape, the Microphone key, or your shortcut again to stop. ## What Apple’s command list includes Apple publishes its dictation commands in the Mac User Guide under "Commands for dictating text on Mac". The list is grouped by type, and it is wider than most people expect. In some languages you can also insert emoji by name, such as "heart emoji". - Punctuation: comma, period, question mark, colon, semicolon, apostrophe, ellipsis, hyphen, dash, quote and end quote. - Pairs: open and close parenthesis, open and close square bracket, open and close brace, open and close angle bracket. - Typography: ampersand, asterisk, at sign, backslash, forward slash, caret, underscore, vertical bar, percent sign, hashtag or pound sign. - Formatting: new line, new paragraph, tab key, numeral, roman numeral, no space on and no space off. - Capitalization: caps on and caps off for title case, all caps for the next word, all caps on and all caps off for a phrase. - Math and currency: equal sign, plus sign, minus sign, greater than sign, less than sign, dollar sign, euro sign, yen sign. ## Auto-punctuation vs spoken punctuation There are two ways punctuation gets into dictated text. Auto-punctuation adds it for you from the shape of the sentence. Spoken punctuation adds only what you name. In supported languages, Apple Dictation inserts commas, periods, and question marks automatically, and you can turn that off under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation. Some open speech models also punctuate on their own. The model card for NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v2 lists automatic punctuation and capitalization as a feature of the model itself. That is useful for prose, and it is the reason a tool needs a separate rule layer when you want an exact character. A practical rule: leave auto-punctuation on for messages and email, and name the mark whenever the character matters. If the automatic marks keep landing in the wrong place for the way you speak, turn the feature off and say every mark yourself. In Flit Flit ships more than 60 commands and 115 spoken emoji names, every one resolved by rule, published in full, always on in terminals and optional everywhere else. [The complete command reference](https://flit.fyi/commands) - [Every spoken command, in one place](https://flit.fyi/commands) - [Pairs and quotes that close themselves](https://flit.fyi/commands#pairs) - [Saying the word instead of the mark](https://flit.fyi/commands#escape) - [60 commands, and not one of them is a guess](https://flit.fyi/features#commands) ## Questions people ask. ### How do I dictate punctuation? Say its name: "comma", "period", "question mark", "new paragraph". In prose, a good tool also infers most punctuation from the sentence, so you only need to say it when you want something specific. ### How do I say a symbol like a dash or a bracket? By name: "dash", "underscore", "open paren", "close bracket", "dollar sign". In a tool built for it, pairs close themselves and "dash dash" produces the double dash used in command flags. ### What if I want the word “comma” and not the mark? Say "literally comma", or the tool’s equivalent escape phrase. In prose apps where commands are optional, the plain word usually goes through as a word anyway. ### How do I turn off auto-punctuation on Mac? Choose Apple menu → System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation, then turn off Auto-punctuation. After that, Dictation only types the marks you say by name. ### How do I dictate in all caps on a Mac? With Apple Dictation, say "all caps" before a single word, or say "all caps on", speak the phrase, then say "all caps off". Saying "caps on" gives you title case instead. ### Can I dictate emoji on a Mac? Yes, in some languages. With Apple Dictation you say the name followed by the word emoji, for example "heart emoji" or "car emoji". ## Guides that use it - [Mac dictation commands](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-commands) ## On the blog - [The best speech-to-text for developers in 2026](https://flit.fyi/blog/speech-to-text-for-developers) - [How to dictate code: a working setup](https://flit.fyi/blog/how-to-dictate-code) ## Use cases - [Developers](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/developers) ## Compared on it - [Flit vs Wispr Flow](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/wispr-flow) - [Flit vs Superwhisper](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/superwhisper) - [Flit vs SpeakMac](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/speakmac) - [Flit vs Spokenly](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/spokenly) - [Flit vs VoiceInk](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/voiceink) - [Flit vs FluidVoice](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/fluidvoice) - [Flit vs Snaply](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/snaply) - [Flit vs Utter](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/utter) - [All 24 comparisons](https://flit.fyi/alternatives) ## Related terms - [Verbatim mode](https://flit.fyi/glossary/verbatim-mode) - [Formatting pass](https://flit.fyi/glossary/formatting-pass) - [Text expansion](https://flit.fyi/glossary/text-expansion) - [Disfluency](https://flit.fyi/glossary/disfluency) ## Your voice was always faster. 7 days free, then $19 USD once. No account, no subscription, nothing uploaded. [Download for Mac](https://flit.fyi/download) [Buy now · $19 USD](https://flit.fyi/pricing#personal) macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon