MaineGG

It seems like many places we've been this trip, one needs a 50 centime coin to access the toilettes. Yesterday at the station in Dijon, I had to buy a magazine for €4.50 to get the right change to visit the Ladies' Room. Of course, I do enjoy looking at the Marie Claire Maison . So, when you go to France, be sure to squirrel away a few 50 centime coins for those times when you might need them.

StCirq

Good advice, but there haven't been centimes in France for more than 10 years now. They're cents now - though I imagine some old-timers still refer to them as centimes.

Pvoyageuse

They are called centimes and not cents in France.
'l'article L111-1 du Code monétaire et financier stipule : « la monnaie de la France est l'euro. Un euro est divisé en cent centimes »'.

pdx

Thanks, MaineGG. Very nice of you to mention this.

kerouac

When you go to Paris all of the wonderful sanisettes out on the street are free.

kerouac

And yes, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal do not use the word 'cent.' The use the old words. However, Luxembourg and Belgium do when you are speaking French (or any other language).

FrenchMystiqueTours

The free sanisettes in Paris are great.....when they are not out of order.

kerouac

Then you just pee against them instead of inside them.

Nikki

"Then you just pee against them instead of inside them."

Define "you".

Cathinjoetown

My French teacher (French, in France) told us to use "cent" and the coins themselves are stamped "cent". Rarely hear either used, just " trois euro, cinquante", or "trois, cinquante" for example.

Pvoyageuse

For your French teacher :
"Comme préconisé par la Commission générale de terminologie et le Conseil national de la consommation, pour éviter des homonymies gênantes pour la compréhension et donc l'usage commode de la monnaie, le terme « centime » doit être utilisé en France. D'ailleurs l'article L111-1 du Code monétaire et financier stipule : « la monnaie de la France est l'euro. Un euro est divisé en cent centimes ». Pour les mêmes raisons que pour le nom « euro » (cf. ci-dessus), l'expression « EURO CENT » figure, invariable, (en capitales et sur deux lignes, avec une police de caractères plus grande pour CENT que pour EURO) sur le côté pile des pièces.

Ainsi, sur les pièces, par exemple, de 5 centimes, il est écrit 5 EURO CENT, mais on dit couramment 5 centimes d'euro. Pour parler d'une somme de 500,05€, on ne dit pas cinq cents euros et cinq cents, mais cinq cents euros et cinq centimes. Le mot cent est essentiellement utilisé dans les langues étrangères comme dans «five hundred euros and five cents»."

In brief, it is to avoid confusion between "deux cents" (2 cents) and "deux cents" (200) which are spelled and pronounced exactly the same.

PalenQ

At least in Paris the many public toilets dotting the streets are free or were last time I was there. Train stations no, always seem to charge.

Cathinjoetown

Pvoy,

Will show this to her.

kerouac

It is also annoying how many people have read that in official publications the word "euro" is invariable, so you hear them say "50 euro" or "300 euro" when it has also been stated that in colloquial speech, the word euro should conform to the plural rules of the local language.

In English and French (among others), we generally put an "S" on our plurals. 5 euros, 10 euros, 100 euros....

Nikki

Wouldn't 50 euros be pronounced the same as 50 euro in French?

PalenQ

Yes it would but that is not kerouac's point I think

my French son has been in States years now but invariable says "I am going to Starbuck' meaning of course Starbucks - but he pronounces it Starbuck but he would not write it that way and would put the s on for sure.

kerouac

Yes, PalenQ -- it's not a matter of how you need to pronounce depending on the language but just the basic idea of writing "2 euros" instead of "2 euro" -- and of course pronouncing the S if you are speaking English.

latedaytraveler

Maine, merci for this important info. I will keep it in mind when I go to Paris in late spring. First things first...