Math in Japanese: Subtraction

It's time for more numbers in Japanese and that means another math word so you can practice your numbers! You're going to go up to the hundreds but you have to look out for two changes pronunciation this time.

First off here is the new kanji you'll be using to say "hundred".

This works the same as the tens where putting a number from 2 to 9 in front of it will make it a larger number. For example, 二百 (ni hyaku) would be "two hundreds" or "two hundred", and 254 would be 二百五十四 (ni hyaku go juu yon) or "two hundreds, five tens and four".

But there are three exceptions to this pronunciation.

三百 changes to さんびゃく (sanbyaku), 六百 becomes ろっぴゃく (roppyaku), and 八百 becomes はっぴゃく (happyaku).

With that out of the way, here is the word for "subtract" or "minus".

引く more literally means "to pull" and is also used to identify a door you would pull to open but is also used in subtraction. Once again, these math equations are in the same order as in English. The only change is replacing "equals" with は the exact same way as addition. Here are some examples:

Four minus two equals two / 四引く二は二

Fifteen minus six equals nine / 十五引く六は九

Three hundred minus two hundred equals one-hundred / 
三百引く二百は百

Eight hundred fifty minus twenty-five equals eight hundred twenty-five / 
八百五十引く二十五は八百二十五

Here are some more equations to try on your own for extra practice. If you need more equations, there's lots of math sites to practice on, such as Khan Academy.

1. 6 - 4
2. 11 - 5
3. 53 - 27
4. 120 - 78
5. 342 - 37
6. 851 - 500

Now you can do addition, subtraction, and count up to 999 in Japanese. Remember to say them out loud and make sure you're using the correct pronunciation for 三百 and 八百. Keep practicing everyday and it will be easy to remember.