Минус
The Russian word for minus is минус, and it can be used out loud in simple subraction statements. Notice the Russians use the future tense будет where Americans use present tense is:
| Десять минус четыре будет шесть. | Ten minus four is six. |
| Сто минус один будет девяносто девять. | One hundred minus one is ninety-nine. |
This is a very informal way of talking. In formal Russian the first example sentence comes out much more complicated:
| Из десяти вычесть четыре равняется шести. | lit. From ten to subtract four equals to six. |
The word can also be used when discussing negative numbers and temperatures:
| Всходы выдерживают заморозки от минус 3 до минус 6 градусов. (source) | The sprouts can stand freezing weather from minus three to minus six degrees. |
When we start out in our Russian studies, it's tough for us Americans to know how to read numerical phrases out loud. In this case they come out like this:
| от минус 3 до минус 6 градусов | от минус трёх до минус шести градусов |
Notice that the word минус doesn't change for case here.
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