what does this have to do with the way you pronounce the words in french? wouldn't you just say them the way you would in English
Look at these numbers:
In French, commas are used where decimal points are in English!
If the value is a price in euros, you may write the Euro sign (€) in place of the decimal point:
Note that both spellings are pronounced the same, with the currency said in place of the comma.
ATTENTION:
This does not apply to other currencies, with which the currency sign is written after the price:
(To pronounce prices, the currency is placed where the comma is.)
Spaces are used to separate thousands instead of commas (sometimes but rarely you may see periods/full stops used) :
Pronunciation:
When it comes to decimal numbers, you pronounce the comma (virgule), except in case of currency, when you insert the currency (here, euros) in-between the integer and the decimal.
Examples and resources
Q&A Forum 15 questions, 29 answers
BETHSAINA asked:View original
do you have to pronounce it in french
what does this have to do with the way you pronounce the words in french? wouldn't you just say them the way you would in English
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Numbers commas
Your explanation says that where English points are used the French use commas, yet when I put commas in my last test, it was marked wrong. I give up on numbers and want to move on to something else please.
Asked 1 month ago
Hi Hatwright,
If you feel you have been marked incorrectly, you need to use the ‘Report it’ in your Correction Board as it will link directly to the specific quiz and make it easier to answer you.
This is a forum for language and culture questions.
Hatwright asked:View original
Numbers commas
Your explanation says that where English points are used the French use commas, yet when I put commas in my last test, it was marked wrong. I give up on numbers and want to move on to something else please.
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To address comments below re 14,052 in English. It would be 14.052. We use periods in this case when discussing percents: 14 point 052 percent.
Asked 3 months ago
Liz asked:View original
To address comments below re 14,052 in English. It would be 14.052. We use periods in this case when discussing percents: 14 point 052 percent.
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This is a number written in English: "2,148.20". How would it be expressed in French?
abovr was a question on the quiz.
I selected 2 148,20 as the answer.
The engine said that the my answer was nearly correct, and that the correct
answer is : 2.148,20
?????
Merci!
Asked 7 months ago
Both 2 148,20 and 2.148,20 are correct ways to express it in French. So you were nearly right when you chose one of te two correct answers, instead of both correct answers.
Atul asked:View original
This is a number written in English: "2,148.20". How would it be expressed in French?
abovr was a question on the quiz.
I selected 2 148,20 as the answer.
The engine said that the my answer was nearly correct, and that the correct
answer is : 2.148,20
?????
Merci!
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Question on Quiz
This is a number written in French: "78,005". How would it be expressed in English?
In this question, the number is already written as english...and not french. Just thought you should know, because I got the question wrong.
Asked 7 months ago
AlanCorrect answer
In general you can't tell whether a number is in French or English just by looking at it, so you have to rely on what it says in the question.
If it were in English, "78,005" would mean "seventy eight thousand and five".
But because we're told that it's in French, it actually means "seventy eight and five thousandths". In English we write that as "78.005".
May asked:View original
Question on Quiz
This is a number written in French: "78,005". How would it be expressed in English?
In this question, the number is already written as english...and not french. Just thought you should know, because I got the question wrong.
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Hello, for numbers such as 1,2 millions , do we also say it the same way, ie. "un virgule deux millions" ? Is "point" ever used in french? Thank you,
Asked 7 months ago
Hi Kelly,
In French ‘un point’ is used for a full stop, the punctuation mark.
You might hear people saying ‘point barre!’ in a conversation, to mean ‘period!’ and end of conversation abruptly ...
Hope this helps!
Thanks you Cécile. So saying 1.2 million in french (1,2 millions): "un virgule deux millions" is correct yea?
CécileKwiziq language super star
'Un virgule deux millions’ is correct but you will probably hear -
‘Un million deux cent mille’ more often i think....
Kelly asked:View original
Hello, for numbers such as 1,2 millions , do we also say it the same way, ie. "un virgule deux millions" ? Is "point" ever used in french? Thank you,
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I agree with previous user comments. The only time a point is used in numbers in English is to denote decimals i.e. 14.052 means 14 whole parts and
the rest would in effect denote the fraction, 52/1000. Commas or spaces would be used to denote the number fourteen thousand and fifty two : 14 052 or 14,052. I've done mathematics at university level but am getting my answers of how to write numbers in English 'wrong'. Your course is fantastic but this section on number writing definitely requires modification.
Asked 10 months ago
I agree with Belinda. I am not aware of an English speaking country where 78,005 (seventy eight thousand & five) would have a decimal between 78 and 005.
Belinda asked:View original
I agree with previous user comments. The only time a point is used in numbers in English is to denote decimals i.e. 14.052 means 14 whole parts and
the rest would in effect denote the fraction, 52/1000. Commas or spaces would be used to denote the number fourteen thousand and fifty two : 14 052 or 14,052. I've done mathematics at university level but am getting my answers of how to write numbers in English 'wrong'. Your course is fantastic but this section on number writing definitely requires modification.
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sound clip for 66,50 £ £ 66.50 confusing
In the examples for currency placed after price, the first sound is a bit confusing to me. It sounds like soixante-six __________ cinquante lbs. I can't figure out what word she is saying in between 66 and 50 pounds? Merci.
Asked 10 months ago
Hi Robin ,
Just listened to it, it says:
Soixante six livres (£66) et cinquante pence.(50p)...
Hope this helps!
That answers my exact question but created a second question. I don't think that livre and pence were mentioned in the lesson. Also livre and pence were not used in other examples. So that is confusing for someone like me not familiar with livres and / or pence. Merci.
Robin asked:View original
sound clip for 66,50 £ £ 66.50 confusing
In the examples for currency placed after price, the first sound is a bit confusing to me. It sounds like soixante-six __________ cinquante lbs. I can't figure out what word she is saying in between 66 and 50 pounds? Merci.
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A1 beginner focus test
two issues:
#1: question was: “What is the French number ‘14,052’ in English?” This question should read “What is the ENGLISH number ‘14,052’ in FRENCH?” A lot of your number questions are written back to front.
2nd issue: I answered ‘14 052’ but it was marked wrong and the less common ‘14.052’ was given as the correct answer. But my answer is correct...?
Asked 1 year ago
AurélieKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Marnie !
In those questions, we're testing going both ways, from French numbers to English and vice-versa, as you need to be able to read numbers back and forth between the 2 languages.
So these questions are no mistake, and you do need to pay attention which language is asked of you :)
In this specific case, if the French number is "14,052", then the English will be "14.052" .
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !
Bonjour Aurélie,
”14.052” is NOT the English way of writing that number. The English way is “14,052” - the first number which you call the “French number”. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen some cases where it is correct but there are many cases where it’s back to front!
AurélieKwiziq language super star
When a French person writes the number "14,052", they're using a comma to mark decimals, whereas English people would use a fullstop to mark decimals, so would change the number to "14.052".
As I said previously, we created questions going both ways inbetween English and French to test going from to the other and vice versa :)
I know that some of your questions are written correctly and do go from the correct French OR English to the other language.
BUT no ENGLISH person writes “fourteen thousand and fifty-two” as “14.05”. “14.052” would be used ONLY as the way of denoting a fraction when one number is divided by another and the result is not a whole number. The fraction will go forever. The English way of writing “fourteen thousand and fifty-two” is “14,052” using comma. In your lesson on numbers you say that the French use either a space or sometimes (rarely) a period. So if you want to as us how the French would write the number, the response you want is using either a period or a space.
In English, DECIMAL points are used ONLY in currency (in which case it would be “fourteen dollars and fifty-two cents” or “$14.52” OR in division...never in writing numbers. So the number “one million” would be “1,000,000”; the currency “one million dollars and fifty-two cents” would be “1,000,000.53”
i see that now some English ways of writing numbers omit the comma and use a space instead. Bur they don’t use decimal points unless as I said it’s a currency or a mathematical division.
Seethe answer marked with a green tick in this link.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/71770/usage-of-and-and-comma-when-writing-numbers-uk-style
sorry to be so nit picky on on this Aurélie but i’m an editor and am not capable of letting this go!
I agree completely with Marnie. What is the French number "14,052" in English ? It seems pretty clear from the answer (14.052) that the question should be ,What is the English number 14,052 in French?
Marnie asked:View original
A1 beginner focus test
two issues:
#1: question was: “What is the French number ‘14,052’ in English?” This question should read “What is the ENGLISH number ‘14,052’ in FRENCH?” A lot of your number questions are written back to front.
2nd issue: I answered ‘14 052’ but it was marked wrong and the less common ‘14.052’ was given as the correct answer. But my answer is correct...?
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I used period as a thousands separator and was marked wrong
Yet, as the lesson says, period may be less frequejntly used than space but it is also correct.
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Cecile, Yesi it was a specific quiz. It is hard to find since I may have done 50 quizzes since then. The system does not make it easy to query about a specific question. If you start from the Report Issue button for the question you get a reply eventually saying that the person replying is not a French expert and you need to do it in the context of a lesson. If you ese Exlain first to get the lesson and click the Discuss button in a lesson you no longer have the question and answer that took you there.
GruffKwiziq language super star
Hi David - we've found the offending question and we'll change it. Thanks for pointing that out!
David asked:View original
I used period as a thousands separator and was marked wrong
Yet, as the lesson says, period may be less frequejntly used than space but it is also correct.
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Is there a way to type in the English Pounds symbol on this program? I typed in an "L" as the closest I could find, but it was marked wrong.
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Rita,
This is what Ron suggested in a earlier question about the same topic:
You might want to try this ALT code:
for £ British Pound 0163 Hold down the ALT button while typing 0163 should give you this: £
Hope this helps!
Rita asked:View original
Is there a way to type in the English Pounds symbol on this program? I typed in an "L" as the closest I could find, but it was marked wrong.
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Space or No Space before the Currency Sign
Salut, I noticed that you have 5,67€ but 66,50 £ and 56,25 $. So no space before € but with space before £ and $? Thanks.
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Johnny,
It seems that the accepted rule is to put a space before the currency sign which is always after the amount ( except in accountancy).
Hope this helps!
I would think that whether or not to put a space before the currency designator does not depend on the particular currency. French like to put spaces before and after punctuation marks such as "," or ":".
Si tu m'aimais , tu serais venu me voir ! (Notice the extra spaces before the comma and the exclamation point.)
Here is a nice article detailing French punctuation rules: https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/french-punctuation/
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Johnny asked:View original
Space or No Space before the Currency Sign
Salut, I noticed that you have 5,67€ but 66,50 £ and 56,25 $. So no space before € but with space before £ and $? Thanks.
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My response shouldn't be marked incorrect if my keyboard doesn't have "the pound" symbol
Asked 1 year ago
RonCorrect answer
Bonjour Milan,
So does you statement reference this symbol # or is it referring to the British Pound Sterling?
If it is the latter, you might want to try this ALT code:
for £ British Pound 0163 Hold down the ALT button while typing 0163 should give you this: £
So does you statement reference this symbol # or is it referring to the British Pound Sterling?
If it is the latter, you might want to try this ALT code:
for £ British Pound 0163 Hold down the ALT button while typing 0163 should give you this: £
Milan asked:View original
My response shouldn't be marked incorrect if my keyboard doesn't have "the pound" symbol
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The pronunciation of 66,50 £ is confusing in the lesson. Please clarify the pronunciation
Asked 2 years ago
GruffKwiziq language super star
Hi Anish - I've updated the pronunciation so have another listen and hopefully that'll be clearer now.
Anish asked:View original
The pronunciation of 66,50 £ is confusing in the lesson. Please clarify the pronunciation
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AurélieKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Susan !
That would be "dix-huit mille dollars", and in (loose) phonetics: [deezuee-meal-dough-larr] :)
À bientôt !
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