How do I add punctuation when dictating on iPhone?

Say the name of the mark, such as "comma", "period" or "question mark". In many languages the iPhone also adds punctuation automatically. You can turn that off in Settings, General, Keyboard, Auto-Punctuation.

How do I capitalize a word with iPhone dictation?

Say "cap" before the word to capitalize it, or "all caps" to make the whole word uppercase. "Caps on" and "caps off" capitalize each word in between.

How do I start a new paragraph with iPhone dictation?

Say "new paragraph". For a single line break, say "new line".

iPhone dictation commands: the full list

Punctuation

Say the name of the mark. In many languages the iPhone also adds commas, periods and question marks by itself.

Say	You get
Period	.
Comma	,
Question mark	?
Exclamation point	!
Colon	:
Semicolon	;
Quote, then End quote	“ ”
Open parenthesis, then Close parenthesis	( )
Dollar sign	$
Hashtag	#

Capitals and spacing

Say	What it does
Cap	Capitalizes the next word
Caps on, then Caps off	Capitalizes the first letter of each word in between
All caps	Makes the next word uppercase
All caps on, then All caps off	Makes the words in between uppercase
No caps on, then No caps off	Makes the words in between lowercase
No space	Removes the space between two words

New lines and editing

Say "new line" or "new paragraph" to break the text.
Say "select" or "delete" followed by the phrase you want to change.
Say "undo" or "redo".
To fix a spelling, say something like "Change tea to T-E-E".
To spell a name, say it and then the letters.

Stopping

Tap the microphone.
Say "Stop dictation".
Or stay silent for 30 seconds and it stops by itself.

Turning automatic punctuation off

Go to Settings, General, Keyboard, and turn off Auto-Punctuation. After that, only the marks you say are added.

How Keyspoken handles commands

Keyspoken is a separate dictation strip that runs its own speech model on the iPhone. It adds punctuation and capitals by itself, and in English it understands "new line" and "new paragraph". It stops when you pause, so there is nothing to say or tap at the end.

Sources

Source: Apple, iPhone User Guide, Commands for dictating text on iPhone support.apple.com, read 13 November 2026.

Source: Apple, iPhone User Guide, Dictate text on iPhone support.apple.com, read 13 November 2026.