In a message dated 2/7/2004 3:49:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,
yonjuuni@EARTHLINK.NET writes:
>Philippe Caquant wrote:
>> As to liaisons, something interesting happened when
>> euro took the place of french franc. There is a
>> grammatical rule that says that the word “cent” should
>> be used as a plural in expressions like “trois cents
>> francs”, but as a singular in expressions like “trois
>> cent vingt francs”.
>So, French places the smaller unit first, 3 cent 20 francs, instead of
>20 francs 3 cents? Interesting. What would "trois cents francs" mean?
>Is that .03 franc?
I think you're misinterpreting here.
"trois cents francs" = "three hundred [300] francs"
"trois cent vingt francs" = "three hundred twenty [320] francs" (not "twenty
francs & three centimes").
Doug