除了 chú le

HSK 3 word

Meanings

apart from; besides; in addition to (used to exclude, as in 除了他，谁也没来 "apart from him, nobody came", or to include, as in 除了英语，他也会法语 "in addition to English, he also knows French")
(used to introduce one of two habitual alternatives in the pattern 除了 + A + 就是 + B, "either A or B")

Characters

除 chú: to get rid of
了 le, liǎo: (completed action marker)

Grammar: "Except" and "besides" with 除了

除了 + A + (以外), + 都 / 也 / 还...

除了 A (以外) sets A apart, and the adverb in the second part decides the meaning. With 都 it excludes A: "everything except A". With 也 or 还 it adds to A: "besides A, also...". 以外 at the end of the first part is optional.

Example sentences

除了星期天他每天工作。
He works every day except Sunday.
Tatoeba #846427 by Martha (CC BY 2.0 FR)

我喜欢动物，除了猫。
Apart from cats, I like animals.
Tatoeba #1372498 by sadhen (CC BY 2.0 FR)

她给花园除了草。
She weeded the garden.
Tatoeba #2411928 by User5120 (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Meanings and readings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).