moins DE soixsant jours

Question

Why "moins DE soixsante jours" and not "moins QUE soixsante jours"? Accourding to the rule, we should have used 'de' if we wanted to say moins DE jours que de nuits. But here, as I understand, 2 or 3 days is less QUE 60. Thank you

Accepted Answer

Hi Anna, 
I think you are confusing two concepts -
moins de and its opposite  plus de = less than or more than

...moins de soixante jours avant votre départ = ...less than sixty days before your departure 
...plus de soixante jours avant votre départ = ...more than sixty days before your departure

and 
moins que /plus que which are used for comparisons

J'ai beaucoup moins de temps que lui = I have a lot less time than he has
Ils ont plus de respect qu'eux = They have a lot more respect than they have

Hope this helps!

Answer

You often use moins de when comparing a number.