The new currency, of course, is the euro, which this year (2002) is replacing the national currencies of Spain and 11 other European countries, including Germany and France but not Great Britain. The new currency and coins became official on Jan. 1, replacing Spain's peseta and other national currencies. Although the peseta will be phased out for most uses by Feb. 28, until then transactions may take place in both currencies. After June 30, it will be difficult to trade in pesetas for the new currency.

The euro is worth 166.386 pesetas. As of January 1, 2002, the euro was worth almost $0.89 U.S. or £0.61 British, although those exchange rates will fluctuate with international economic conditions. Thus, as of this writing, something worth $10 U.S. (or £6.89) would cost €11.29. Keep in mind that monetary punctuation in Spain is reverse that of English, so the figure would be written €11,29.

For tourists, the unified currency means that visitors won't have to spend their pesetas (or pay for exchange fees) before they leave Spain before they travel to France or other participating countries. But tourists weren't primarily who European political leaders had in mind in adopting the new currency: they hope that the single currency will strengthen Europe economically by increasing trade and simplifying international transactions.

The new currency is responsible for at least one linguistic oddity. As you'd expect, the plural of el euro in Spanish is los euros. But the official plural of el cent, the subdivision (one hundredth) of the euro, is los cents. In other words, the normal rules of pluralization in Spanish, which would make the plural los centes, aren't being followed. This follows a trend of recent years for many words of foreign origin, especially ones from English, to be made plural simply by adding an -s. Note also that while the official name for a hundredth of a euro is a cent, is sometimes called a céntimo, a generic term for a hundredth of a currency unit. (The Latin American equivalent, centavo, isn't as commonly used in Spain.)

If you're interested in money matters when you're traveling in Spain (and who wouldn't be?), here are a few terms you may run across in regard to the new currency:

• Banco — Bank
• BCE (Banco Central Europeo) — Formed on June 1, 1998, this is the central European bank.
• Billetes — Bills. Euros come in bills of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 y 500 euros.
• Cajero automático — ATM.
• Casa de cambio — Money exchange office.
• Monedas — Coins. Euros comes in coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and of 1 and 2 euros. In contrast with the currency, coins have national symbols on one side, although coins from any participating country are legal tender in any of the others.
• Tipo de cambio — Exchange rate.
• Tratado de Maastricht — Treaty of Maastrich, also known as the Treaty of the European Union (Tratado de la Unión Europea), was signed in 1992 and formed an international monetary union (known in Spanish as UEM for Unión Económica y Monetaria).

Note: This page was published on Jan. 1, 2002.