Quotation Marks in LaTeX
Use ` + ' for single, `` + '' for double. Or skip the manual conventions entirely with csquotes.
The two-second answer
% Single quotes
`text'
% Double quotes
``text''
% Don't do this — produces straight quotes
"text" % wrong — looks bad in printWhy backtick and apostrophe?
LaTeX predates Unicode by about a decade and uses ASCII to encode typographic curly quotes. The backtick (`) becomes the opening quote when typeset, and the apostrophe (') becomes the closing quote. Doubling them gives you proper double quotes.
If you type the straight " character, LaTeX interprets it literally — you get a typewriter-style straight quote on both ends, which looks unprofessional in a published paper.
The csquotes package (recommended)
\usepackage{csquotes}
% Use \enquote{} instead of manual quotes
\enquote{This is a quote.}
% Nested quotes auto-alternate
\enquote{Smith said \enquote{significant} clearly.}csquotes is language-aware: it produces curly English quotes by default, French guillemets when you switch to French via babel, German low-high quotes for German, and so on. It also handles nesting automatically. For new documents, use csquotes instead of the backtick-apostrophe convention.
Block quotes (long quotations)
% Short multi-paragraph quote (no first-line indent)
\begin{quote}
Block quote text here. Indented from both margins.
Multiple lines stay together as one block.
\end{quote}
% Longer quote (with paragraph indents)
\begin{quotation}
This environment indents the first line of each paragraph,
following the convention for longer quoted material.
A second paragraph would also be indented.
\end{quotation}
% csquotes block quote
\begin{displayquote}
This works the same and respects language-aware quoting rules.
\end{displayquote}Nested quotes (a quote inside a quote)
% Manual: outer double, inner single
``Smith said `it was significant'.''
% csquotes (auto-alternates)
\enquote{Smith said \enquote{it was significant}.}Common mistakes
- Using
"for quotes. Produces straight typewriter quotes. Always use the``...''convention or\enquote. - Mixing backtick + straight quote.
`text"looks bizarre. Match opening and closing. - Forgetting to load csquotes.
\enquoteonly works after\usepackage{csquotes}. - Typing a Unicode curly quote (“ ”). If your editor auto-corrects to curly Unicode, LaTeX may print it literally or fail. Either turn off smart quotes or use
inputencwith UTF-8 (modern LaTeX handles this correctly).
Typst handles quotes the way you'd expect a modern document tool to: type the actual quote character and Typst figures out which direction it should curl based on context and language.
#set text(lang: "en")
"This is a quote." // becomes "..."
'inner quote' // auto-handles directionNo backtick conventions, no \enquote wrapper, no edge cases. Compiles 10x faster than LaTeX too. Try TypeTeX free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use ` (backtick) for opening single quote and ' (apostrophe) for closing single quote. Double them for double quotes: `` for opening double, '' for closing double. Don't use the straight " character — it produces ugly straight quotes instead of the curly typographic ones LaTeX expects.
LaTeX is older than Unicode and uses ASCII to encode typographic curly quotes: backtick for opening, apostrophe for closing. The double-character form (`` and '') gives you proper opening and closing double quotes (" "). Using straight " instead gives you a typewriter-style straight quote on both sides, which looks wrong in a published paper.
Use the quote or quotation environment: \begin{quote} ... \end{quote}. The 'quote' environment is for short multi-paragraph quotes (no first-line indent); 'quotation' is for longer quotes (with first-line indent on each paragraph). Both indent the entire quote left and right.
csquotes is a LaTeX package that gives you language-aware quotation marks. Use \enquote{your text} and the package outputs the correct quotes for your document's language: 'curly double' for English, «guillemets» for French, „low-high" for German, and so on. Strongly recommended for any multilingual document or to avoid the backtick-apostrophe footgun.
Manually: outer double, inner single. ``Smith said `it was significant'.''. With csquotes (recommended): \enquote{Smith said \enquote{it was significant}.} — the package automatically alternates between double and single quote levels.
You probably typed a straight " or used a smart-quote autocorrect that LaTeX doesn't recognize. Replace with the backtick-apostrophe convention: type ``opening and closing'' explicitly. Many LaTeX editors do this auto-substitution; check your editor's smart-quote settings.
Put the citation immediately after the closing quote: ``Significant result'' \cite[42]{smith2024}. The optional argument [42] adds the page number. For block quotes, put the citation on its own line at the end of the quote, before the closing \end{quote}.
Just type the apostrophe '. LaTeX renders it as a proper closing single quote / apostrophe. Don't type the backtick form for an apostrophe — that would produce an opening curly quote and look strange.
Use csquotes with the appropriate language option from babel or polyglossia. \usepackage[main=english,french,german]{babel} \usepackage{csquotes}. Then \enquote{...} gives the right quotation style for the active language. Manual alternatives: \guillemotleft ... \guillemotright for «...».