Euro figures written two ways: reading 1.250 and 1,250 without a mistake

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. One thousand two hundred and fifty euros and fifty cents is written 1,250.50. 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 amount is written 1.250,50. 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: 1 250,50. In Switzerland you may see an apostrophe: 1'250.50. 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 1.250. A reader from the point system sees one thousand two hundred and fifty. A reader from the comma system may see one point two five, which is one and a quarter. Now look at 1,25. The point-system reader sees one and a quarter. The comma-system reader sees something unfinished and wonders if a digit is missing.

In daily life, context saves you. A coffee is not twelve hundred euros. 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 every rate

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 1,250 always means one thousand two hundred and fifty.
• 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 have no mark at all: 180, 270, 360, 540.

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.

The rates, in digits and in words

Every rate can be read aloud. If you are unsure about a figure, compare it with this list. Each line gives the price in digits, and then in words.

• One hour, one guest, one therapist: 180 euros, one hundred and eighty.
• Ninety minutes: 270 euros, two hundred and seventy.
• Two hours: 360 euros, three hundred and sixty.
• Three hours: 540 euros, five hundred and forty.
• The eight hour overnight: 1,250 euros, one thousand two hundred and fifty.
• The overnight for two guests with one therapist: 2,500 euros, two thousand five hundred.
• The overnight for one guest with two therapists: 2,880 euros, two thousand eight hundred and eighty.
• The overnight for two guests with two therapists: 5,760 euros, five thousand seven hundred and sixty.

For shorter bookings, two guests with one therapist, or one guest with two therapists, cost 360 euros an hour. Two guests with two therapists cost 720 euros an hour, seven hundred and twenty. The full set of figures for each person is in every profile on the therapists page.

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. Here are the halves of the rates above, written the same way:

• Half of 180 is 90.
• Half of 270 is 135.
• Half of 540 is 270.
• Half of 1,250 is 625.
• Half of 2,880 is 1,440, one thousand four hundred and forty.

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. A price tag may say € 12,50: that is twelve euros fifty. A large figure may say € 1.250,00: that is one thousand two hundred and fifty euros. You may also see a comma followed by a dash, such as € 25,-. The dash means no cents: exactly twenty-five 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. 1,250 and 1.250 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, 1,250 can be said as one thousand two hundred and fifty, or as twelve hundred and fifty. Both mean the same amount. Some speakers shorten 150 to one-fifty, but one-fifty can also mean one euro and fifty 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 rates in words above. Every figure you meet should be one of them, or half of one.

If a figure still looks strange, copy it into the thread and write it back in words. For example: is this one thousand two hundred and fifty? 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.