The primary time hyphens are used in Spanish is to combine two adjectives or two nouns of equal status to form a compound word. This should be made clear by the following examples:
- Es un curso teórico-práctico. (It is a course that's theoretical and practical.)
- relaciones sino-estadounidenses (Chinese-U.S. relations)
- el vuelo Madrid-Paris (the Madrid-to-Paris flight)
- literatura hispano-árabe (Spanish-Arabic literature)
- Propone que los tres principios socio-politicos sean incluidos en la constitución. (He proposes that the three socio-political principles be included in the constitution.)
- Los pétalos son blanco-verdosos. (The petals are greenish-white.)
Hyphens can also be used to join two dates, as in English: la guerra de 1808-1814 (the war of 1808-1814).
Here are some examples of cases where hyphens are not used in Spanish where they are used (or can be, depending on the writer) in English:
- Numbers: veintiuno (twenty-one), veintiocho (twenty-eight)
- Words formed with prefixes: antifascista (anti-fascist), antisemitismo (anti-Semitism), precocinar (pre-cook), cuasilegal (quasi-legal)
- Words or phrases formed by two words that don't have the same status: hispanohablante (Spanish-speaking), bienintencionado (well-meaning), self-respect (amor propio)
- well-informed citizenry (ciuidadanía bien informada)
- sub-zero temperatures (temperaturas bajo cero)
- good-natured person (persona bondadosa)
- man-eating tiger (tigre que come hombres)
- high-intelligence individuals (individuos de alta inteligencia)

