Numbers and euro

The euro has now replaced the national currencies of some countries in Europe. The euro is divided into 100 cents. It is also called "eurocent" to make the difference with the dollar's "cent". Much more commonly, in France, we simply say "centime" or "centime d'euro".

With regard to the use of capital letters, the words "euro" and "cent" behave like ordinary common nouns. They are capitalized only if they are at the beginning of a sentence. Please note that this rule is not valid in all countries. In Germany, for example, euro is always written with a capital letter: Euro.

In the plural, "euro" and "cent" are subject to the rules of French grammar. If they vary in number, an s is added to them: one euro, two euros, one hundred euros and three hundred . It should be noted, however, that on banknotes, euro does not take s because the rules for agreeing the plural of the countries where notes and coins circulate are not always the same as in French.

Euro and pronunciation

Be careful to pronounce the links with the euros correctly. If with francs, you could afford to ignore the rules for writing numbers, with the euro, it no longer works!

With 80 or 200, no problem, you write eighty euros and say "quatre-vingts-z-euros". Similarly, it will be said "deux cents-z-euros".

On the other hand, with 20 and 100, there are no s at the end of the number because it is not multiplied. At this point, we pronounce "vingt-t-euros" and "cent-t-euros" and there is no sound z.

Note: in practice, most people, out of doubt, no longer make the connection. But this is no reason to imitate them.