Plus, Minus, Times, Divided By: How to Read Math Symbols in English

A learner stood at the whiteboard in a tutoring session, pointing at the line 6 + 4 = 10, and said, "Six add four is ten." His tutor smiled and replied, "We say six plus four equals ten." Then came 8 - 3 = 5. The learner tried: "Eight subtract three." Another gentle correction: "Eight minus three." Tiny symbols, tiny words, and somehow every one of them needed translation. The strange thing is that the math itself was perfect. Only the spoken version got tangled.

Why This Matters

Math symbols show up far beyond math class. You hear them in cooking videos ("two cups plus a splash of milk"), in lab reports ("the result is 4 times the control value"), in shopping ("buy one, get one half off"), and in business meetings ("revenue minus expenses equals profit"). On the TOEFL listening section a professor might say, "If you take the average and divide it by the sample size, you get the standard error." If you miss the small operator words, you lose the entire sentence. Once you can read symbols aloud naturally, presentations, study groups, and even casual chats about money or recipes start to feel easier.

The Pattern

Each symbol has a short spoken word, and the word goes in the exact position the symbol sits in the line. Read left to right, exactly the way you read English.

Plus is the spoken word for +. "Two plus three equals five" (2 + 3 = 5).

Minus is the word for −. "Ten minus four equals six" (10 − 4 = 6). The same word also describes negative numbers: "minus five" or "negative five" for −5. In a temperature report you usually hear "minus five degrees" or "five below."

Times is the casual word for ×. "Three times four is twelve" (3 × 4 = 12). You can also say "multiplied by," which sounds more formal: "three multiplied by four equals twelve." In writing, the symbol can be ×, a centered dot ·, or, in algebra, just two letters next to each other (3x means three times x).

Divided by is the word for ÷ or /. "Twelve divided by four equals three" (12 ÷ 4 = 3). You can also say "over" when reading a fraction line aloud: "twelve over four."

Equals is the word for =. "Two plus three equals five." Casual English often uses "is": "two plus three is five." Both are correct; equals sounds slightly more careful or mathy, is sounds slightly more relaxed.

Parentheses are read as "open paren" and "close paren" in technical settings, or simply paused over in casual reading. The expression (2 + 3) × 4 becomes "two plus three, all times four" or "open paren, two plus three, close paren, times four."

When you read longer expressions, follow the order of operations and group your voice with little pauses. A pause acts like a comma: it tells the listener which parts belong together.

Wrong / Natural / Why

Common Situations

Studying together. A friend points at your notebook and asks, "What did you get?" You say, "Seven plus eight is fifteen, then fifteen times two equals thirty." Smooth, no hesitation. The trick is to read each symbol in place, exactly where it sits on the page.

Cooking with a recipe video. The host says, "Take two cups of flour, plus a pinch of salt, minus any sugar this time." You hear math words even though no one is doing math. Plus and minus in casual speech mean "and a little extra" or "without."

Splitting a bill. "The total is sixty dollars, divided by four people — that's fifteen each." This is everyday division, and the word divided by is the most natural choice. Saying over would sound a little odd in a restaurant, although fine on paper.

At work, reading a chart. "Revenue minus expenses equals profit." That single sentence is something you might say in a finance meeting, a class presentation, or a casual job interview answer. Mastering the operator words means you can speak about money confidently.

Lab and science class. The teacher writes F = ma on the board and reads it aloud as "F equals m a" or "force equals mass times acceleration." Notice that two letters next to each other are read as a product, not as a long compound word.

If you want to weave more math into your speaking practice, the article How to Say Decimals, Fractions, and Ratios Without Freezing covers the next step: how to read numbers with points, slashes, and ratios after you have the four basic operators down.

Common Mistakes

• Saying add and subtract as if they were the operator words. Add and subtract are verbs you use in instructions ("Add three to seven"), not when reading a written equation aloud.
• Translating the multiplication sign literally and saying multiply alone. The natural spoken form is times or multiplied by.
• Skipping the small word by in divided by or multiplied by. The pattern is "twelve divided by four," not "twelve divided four."
• Stacking two negative words: negative minus five. Pick one — minus five or negative five.
• Saying equals to instead of just equals. The English verb does not take to: "two plus three equals five," not "equals to five."
• Reading parentheses as separate sentences and losing the grouping. Use small pauses to keep grouped pieces together in the listener's ear.
• Reading numerator and denominator out of order. For a fraction written 3/4, the natural spoken form is "three over four" or "three divided by four," top first.
• Forgetting that by in English measurements means dimensions (a five-by-seven photo), not multiplication of two quantities to get a single answer.

Mini Practice

Read each line aloud as you would say it in a study group, then write the full English sentence.

1. 9 + 6 = 15
2. 20 − 7 = 13
3. 4 × 8 = 32
4. 36 ÷ 6 = 6
5. (5 + 3) × 2 = 16

Summary

The four operator words you need most are plus, minus, times, and divided by, with equals (or is) for the = sign. Read each symbol in place, left to right, with small pauses for groups. Once these little words feel automatic, equations, recipes, charts, and lab reports stop sounding scary in English. Math is hard enough without the language slowing you down.

Want to practice numbers, quantifiers, and units in real test sentences? Start practicing on ExamRift.