Euro figures written two ways: the point, the comma and how to read both

A number seems like the one thing that needs no translation. Digits are the same in almost every country. The small marks between the digits are not. A point and a comma can mean opposite things, depending on where you went to school. For a price, that difference is not small at all. It can make a figure look a thousand times bigger, or a thousand times smaller, than it really is.

The two systems

There are two common ways to write a large number with a decimal part.

The comma system. A comma separates the thousands, and a point marks the decimal part. Two thousand four hundred and a half is written 2,400.50. This is the system of the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Australia, and much of Asia.

The point system. It is the other way round. A point separates the thousands, and a comma marks the decimal part. The same number is written 2.400,50. This is the system of the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, much of South America and many other countries.

A few countries use neither mark for thousands. In France and Scandinavia you often see a small space: 2 400,50. In Switzerland you may see an apostrophe: 2'400.50. And in India, large numbers are grouped differently after the first thousand. None of these is wrong. They are simply habits, and your eyes follow the habit you grew up with.

Where each system can trick you

The danger is a number with exactly one mark in it. Look at 2.400. A reader from the point system sees two thousand four hundred. A reader from the comma system may see two point four, a little more than two. Now look at 2,4. The point-system reader sees a little more than two. The comma-system reader sees something unfinished and wonders if a digit is missing.

In daily life, context saves you. Nobody reads the price of a coffee as a figure in the thousands. But with a service you have not booked before, you may not have a feeling for the price yet. That is exactly when the marks matter.

How this site writes a figure

Every figure on this site follows three simple habits, so you can read them the same way on every page:

• The comma is used only to separate thousands. So a comma between digits here never marks cents.
• No rate has cents. Every price is a whole number of euros, so you will never see a decimal part on a rate.
• Figures under one thousand carry no mark at all, only their three digits.

So here is a rule that always works on this site. If you see a comma followed by exactly three digits, it is a thousands comma. If you ever see a price with a point in it, it came from somewhere else, such as a translation app or your phone's settings, and it is worth checking.

Saying a rate in words

Any rate can be read aloud, and it is worth doing once. Open the profile of the woman you have in mind on the therapists page, find the line for your length, and say the figure to yourself in full words. If the words you hear match the size you expected, the marks did not trick you. Her table covers one guest or two and one therapist or two, so the line you read is the one the reply will quote.

Half of a figure: the deposit

Most bookings have a deposit, which is half of the price paid before she travels. Halves are where a misread mark can cause real trouble, because you are already doing a small sum in your head. A good test is to double the deposit the reply names: the answer should be the full figure on her profile, digit for digit.

The reply always states the deposit as a figure, so you never have to work it out alone. But if the figure in the reply is not half of the price you expected, ask before you pay. The deposit entry in the glossary explains when a deposit is asked for.

Dutch price habits you may see in the city

Outside this site, in shops and on menus in Amsterdam, you will see the point system. On a price tag, a comma followed by two digits marks the cents, and a point inside a longer figure marks the thousands. You may also see a comma followed by a dash where the cents would be. The dash means no cents at all, only whole euros. And the euro sign can stand before the number or after it. Both mean the same.

So, in short: this site writes figures in the comma system, and the city around you writes them in the point system. Once you know that, neither will surprise you.

Your phone and your bank may change the marks

Your phone shows numbers in the style of the language it is set to. A figure copied from this site into a note, a calculator or a translation app may come back with the marks swapped. The digits stay the same, but the meaning can change on the screen. Your bank app does the same thing with amounts. So when you compare two figures, compare the digits one by one, not the marks. 2,400 and 2.400 have the same four digits in the same order. If the digits are the same and the marks are swapped, it is the same price written in another habit.

Saying a figure out loud

Spoken numbers have their own traps. In English, 2,400 can be said as two thousand four hundred, or as twenty-four hundred. Both mean the same number. Some speakers clip a figure in the hundreds down to its last two parts, and that clipped form can sound like a small sum with cents. And in some languages the words for hundred and thousand sound close to each other when spoken fast. If you ever talk about a price, on a call or in the room, use the full words, slowly. Better still, keep every figure in writing. A booking here happens in the thread for exactly this reason: a written figure can be read twice, and a spoken one cannot.

At the door, the balance is simply the figure from the thread. You do not need to say it at all. Show the message on your phone if that is easier, and pay that amount.

Crypto amounts are different

If you pay the deposit or the balance in crypto, you will meet a number that really does have many decimal places. A crypto amount can have six or eight digits after the decimal mark. Here the point or comma is not a thousands mark; it is a real decimal. So never retype a crypto amount. Copy it from the thread and paste it. That removes every chance of a swapped mark or a missing digit.

A five second check for any figure

Whenever you read a price and feel unsure, run through these three questions:

1. How many digits are there before any mark? A rate on this site has at least three digits. Anything smaller is not a rate.
2. What comes after the mark? Exactly three digits means thousands. One or two digits means cents, and rates on this site have no cents.
3. Does it make sense next to the list? Compare it with the rate table on her profile. Every figure in the thread should be a line from that table, or half of one.

If a figure still looks strange, copy it into the thread and write it back in words. Spell each digit group out, then end the line with the word correct and a question mark. The answer comes back in words too. Writing a number in words removes both marks at once, and it is the surest way for two people from two number systems to agree.

Figures in the reply

When you book, the reply gives the price and, where one applies, the deposit. It writes them as whole euros, in the same style as this page. It may write EUR in front of the figure, or the word euros after it. EUR is the three letter code for the euro, used by banks everywhere. It means exactly the same as the € sign. The page about the words in the reply explains the other words that appear next to the figures, such as balance and notice.

What does not change

Whatever marks you see, the price is the price agreed in the thread, in euros. Nothing is added for the hour of the night, and nothing is added for the district. Travel inside central Amsterdam is part of the rate. A booking at Schiphol or at an airport hotel is arranged separately, with her journey time agreed before the hour is fixed. So the only figure that counts is the one you read, check and confirm, in writing, before she sets out.