Let's solve $12 - 401$ step by step! **Step 1:** Imagine you have 12 candies 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 **Step 2:** Now, you want to take away 401 candies, but you only have 12. **Step 3:** Since 401 is bigger than 12, the answer will be negative. **Step 4:** Find how much bigger 401 is than 12 by doing $401 - 12$. **Step 5:** $401 - 12 = 389$ **Step 6:** So, $12 - 401 = -389$ Great! The answer is $-389$ 🎯