dollars

[yervand]

Do we have to say "Fifty dollars was stolen from me" or "Fifty dollars were stolen from me"?

[mykwyner]

In English we always treat amounts of money (in dollars and/or cents) as a singular. "A million dollars is a lot of money" or "Four thousand five hundred twenty seven dollars and fifty cents was a good deal on that car." When you refer to an amount of money as a plural we get the sense that you mean the dollar bills. That is, "Fifty dollars were on the floor" means that fifty one-dollar bills were on the floor.