Source: https://saypad.app/mac-dictation-punctuation

# Punctuation when dictating on a Mac
Punctuation is where dictated text usually needs the most fixing. On a Mac there are two ways to get it: say the marks out loud, or let the software work them out from what you say. Apple's dictation does both. Whisper-based apps like Saypad do the second.

## Apple's auto-punctuation

In supported languages, Apple's dictation inserts commas, periods and question marks for you as you talk. The switch is in System Settings → Keyboard, under Dictation, and it's called Auto-punctuation.

Not every dictation language has it. Apple's feature availability page lists English for the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India and several other regions, plus French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Chinese and Thai, among others. Russian, for example, supports dictation but isn't on the auto-punctuation list. If commas never appear, check that page for your language before blaming the settings.

## Spoken commands Apple supports

You can also say punctuation by name. Apple's English guide lists commands that are always available while dictating, including these:

| Say | You get |
|---|---|
| period (or point, dot, full stop) | . |
| comma | , |
| question mark / exclamation mark | ? / ! |
| colon / semicolon | : / ; |
| quote … end quote | opening and closing quotation marks |
| open parenthesis … close parenthesis | ( ) |
| hyphen / dash / ellipsis | a hyphen, a dash, … |
| apostrophe | an apostrophe |
| new line / new paragraph | one or two line breaks |
| caps on … caps off | the phrase in Title Case |
| all caps | the next word in capitals |
| no space on … no space off | the phrase without spaces |
| numeral | the next phrase as a number |

From Apple's "Commands for dictating text on Mac", checked 10 October 2026. The full list also covers symbols, currency and math signs.

Line breaks from "new line" and "new paragraph" show up when you finish dictating. The wording can change between macOS versions (macOS 15 says "open bracket" where newer versions say "open square bracket"), so if a command doesn't work, check the guide for your version.

## How Whisper handles punctuation

Whisper was trained on a large amount of transcribed audio, subtitles included, and it writes punctuated text with capital letters. You don't say "comma" or "period". You talk, and the sentence comes back with the marks already in place. Saypad runs Whisper on your Mac and pastes the result as it is, without an AI pass that rewrites your sentences.

The marks Whisper chooses depend on the model. In our [offline accuracy test](offline-dictation-accuracy-mac.html), the 874 MB model matched the full one word for word in 31 of 32 dictations, and the single difference was punctuation.

## Tips for cleaner punctuation

- Finish your sentences. Automatic punctuation has to guess where one sentence ends and the next begins, and clear sentences make that easier.
- Say the marks software can't hear in your voice, like quotation marks, parentheses and paragraph breaks.
- Type code, file paths and long strings of symbols. Dictating them mark by mark is slower than the keyboard.
- Fix capitalization at the source. In Saypad, Settings → Vocabulary can hold replacements like "kubernetes" → "Kubernetes", so the name comes out right every time.
- If you'd rather control every mark yourself, turn Auto-punctuation off in Apple's dictation and say them all.

For longer pieces, see [how to dictate long text on a Mac](dictate-long-text-mac.html).

## Questions

**How do I turn off automatic punctuation on a Mac?**
Open System Settings → Keyboard, go to Dictation and turn off Auto-punctuation. You can still say punctuation marks by name.

**Why doesn't my Mac add punctuation when I dictate?**
Either Auto-punctuation is off in Keyboard settings, or your dictation language doesn't support it. Apple's feature availability page lists the languages that do.

**How do I add a line break with dictation?**
Say "new line" for one line break or "new paragraph" for two. With Apple's dictation they appear when you finish dictating.

**Do I need to say "comma" in Saypad?**
No. Whisper puts in commas, periods and capitals by itself, and Saypad types the result without rewriting it.