It's Elementary!

Da gibt es Zahlen und man muss addieren, subtrahieren, multiplizieren und dividieren.

There are numbers, and you have to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

Captions 4-5, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!

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Welches Fach ist das? Ja, das ist Mathematik oder Mathe.

Which subject is this? Yes, this is mathematics or math.

Captions 7-8, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!

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To add (addieren), subtract (subtrahieren), multiply (multiplizieren) and divide (dividieren) form the four elements of elementary arithmetic (die Grundrechenarten). And we all know that 1 + 1 = 2, which we say out loud as "one plus one equals two." But how do we say these basic calculations in German?

With addition (die Addition), we use the plus sign ("+," das Pluszeichen). To make an equation (die Gleichung), we also need the equal sign ("=," das Gleichheitszeichen).

To learn to speak a basic equation, let's take the basic 1 + 1 = 2 as an example:

Eins plus eins ist gleich zwei.
One plus one equals two.

Sometimes native German speakers drop the gleich and just say ist. It's also common to hear the slang version, much as in English:

Eins and eins macht zwei.
One and one makes two.

Let's keep to the more formal versions from here on out, though!

In subtraction (die Subtraktion), we use the minus sign (das Minuszeichen):

Eins minus eins ist gleich null.
One minus one equals zero.

With multiplication (die Multiplikation), you'll see the multiplication sign ("x," das Malzeichen). Note that mal is often used in German to refer to the frequency or number of times something has happened, such as in "once" (einmal), "twice" (zweimal) or "three times" (dreimal).

Zwei mal zwei ist gleich vier.
Two times two equals four.

The last section of elementary arithmetic is division (die Division). This uses the division sign (das Geteiltzeichen) which may be written as ":," "÷," or "/." 

Vier geteilt durch zwei ist gleich zwei.
Four divided by two equals two.

Native German speakers sometimes drop geteilt and simply say vier durch zwei, for example.

So while even the basic German math terms aren't super easy, at least they're easier than math itself.

Ich fand Mathe immer super ätzend.

I always found math really unpleasant.

Caption 22, Nicos Weg: Schule

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Further Learning
Get together with another student and write out some numerical addition, subtraction, multiplication and division equations. Then take turns reading them aloud. You can also go to Yabla German and search for Mathe and Mathematik to find some videos where the topic is discussed.