as I prepare for my upcoming trip to CR I would like to know how prices are posted in the stores and quoted on the streets in colones.

Example:
1.Would a price of 550 colones be shown on a store tag as .55?

2. Would a price of 5,000 colones be shown as 5.000?

3. would a price of 5,575 colones be shown as 5.575?

4. If a price is quoted on the streets of 50,000 colones would it be quoted as "cincuenta mil colones" or just simply "cincuenta" or "cincuenta punto"?

5. are the price tags sometimes shown in USD as well?

6. Are prices in the public markets usually quoted in Colones or USD or both?

thanks

nonstop, prices nearly always are in colones rather than US dollars. Cincuenta mil colones would be, I believe, the more common expression (as far as my recollection goes).

A price tag of 550 colones would say 550, rather than .55

However, I do think I have seen your other examples--using the decimal point.

About the comas and periods with numbers in Spanish, goes like this. We inherited this system from the Europeans
In the USA $1250.00
Sometimes in Latin America $1,250.00 but that tradition is dying and hardly use anymore.
Prices will be quoted exactly same way we do in the USA, fifty thousand, is cincuenta mil and so on.
550 colones will never be quoted .55
$5000.00 colones
$5575.00 colones
Latin America is in the process of americanization every day. Things are closer to the USA on a daily basis

ok, thanks, that helps a lot.

Hi, Will add my 2 cents!

I teach people like this:
If you are coming from the states or otherwise know this, there are 100 pennies in $1. Right?

And, 500 pennies in $5, etc.

Here in Costa Rica we don't have units of money like that. We just have numbers. So.... we have 5 colones or 10 colones or 5,000 colones just like it was 5,000 pennies.

And, generally, they are written like that. Sometimes, there are decimal pointes added to your price tag. For example: 500.00 just means 500 colones. Or 10,000.00 just means 10,000 colones.

Last Friday's Tico Times newspaper quoted: $461.74 of these colones make $1.

We have a gold large coin that is 500... which makes it worth about $1.08 U.S.dollars.

A red 1,000 is therefore worth about
$2.16

But, it sure is fun counting in thousands!

Hopabout