Mandarin 除了...以外: One Frame, Two Opposite Meanings

The frame, and the thing it does not tell you

The pattern is:

除chú了le (chú le) + X + 以yǐ外wài (yǐ wài), + subject + 都dōu (dōu) / 还hái (hái) / 也yě (yě) + Verb

The first half is fixed and neutral. It singles out X and holds it up. It does not say whether X is being thrown out of the group or added to it. Only the second half does that.

The two sentences below share their first five characters and mean opposite things:

• 除了他以外，大家都来了。 (chú le tā yǐ wài, dà jiā dōu lái le.) - Apart from him, everybody came. He did NOT come.
• 除了他以外，我们也请了老师。 (chú le tā yǐ wài, wǒ men yě qǐng le lǎo shī.) - Besides him, we also invited the teacher. He IS invited.

This is the whole lesson. Everything else on this page is detail.

Why 都 (dōu) excludes and 还 (hái) includes

It is not arbitrary, and understanding it saves you from ever memorising a table.

都 (dōu) sums up a group and says the predicate applies to all of it. If the sentence has just held X up separately and then says 'all of them did it', X cannot be one of the ones who did it, or there would have been no reason to hold it up. So 都 (dōu) forces the exclusion reading: 大家都来了 (dà jiā dōu lái le) is the group minus him.

还 (hái) means 'in addition, on top of that'. It adds. If X has been named and the sentence then says 'and in addition Y', X is one of the things being counted, and Y is the second one. So 还 (hái) forces the inclusion reading.

也 (yě) means 'also' and behaves like 还 (hái) here: it adds a second member to a set that already contains X.

The practical upshot when you are speaking: decide first whether you are subtracting or adding, then reach for 都 (dōu) or 还 (hái). Do not start the sentence and hope.

以外 (yǐ wài) is optional

In speech the closer is often dropped, and nothing changes:

• 除了他，大家都来了。 (chú le tā, dà jiā dōu lái le.) - Apart from him, everybody came.
• 除了中文，他还会说英文。 (chú le zhōng wén, tā hái huì shuō yīng wén.) - Besides Chinese, he speaks English too.

The bare version is the everyday spoken one. Keep 以外 (yǐ wài) when the X is long, because the closer tells the listener where the singled-out item ended, and a long X without it can run on into the main clause.

What is NOT optional is the adverb in the second half. That is the error worth being frightened of, and it gets its own section below.

之外 (zhī wài): the formal closer

之外 (zhī wài) is the written-register version of 以外 (yǐ wài). Same slot, same meaning, stiffer voice.

• 除了这个问题之外，别的我都同意。 (chú le zhè ge wèn tí zhī wài, bié de wǒ dōu tóng yì.) - Apart from this point, I agree with all the rest.
• 除了他之外，还有两个人知道。 (chú le tā zhī wài, hái yǒu liǎng ge rén zhī dào.) - Besides him, two other people know.

Use 以外 (yǐ wài) by default. Reach for 之外 (zhī wài) in an essay, a report or a formal email, where it reads as careful rather than pompous. In conversation it is a shade heavy, in the same way 'aside from' is heavier than 'apart from' in English.

You will also meet the fully compressed 除...外 in headlines and legal writing. Recognise it; do not produce it.

除此以外 (chú cǐ yǐ wài): the set connective

Replace X with 此 (cǐ), the written word for 'this', and you get a fixed sentence opener meaning 'apart from this' or 'besides this'. 除此之外 (chú cǐ zhī wài) is the same thing one register up, and is the commoner of the two in writing.

• 除此以外，我们都同意。 (chú cǐ yǐ wài, wǒ men dōu tóng yì.) - Apart from this, we all agree.
• 除此之外，他还有一个问题。 (chú cǐ zhī wài, tā hái yǒu yí ge wèn tí.) - Besides this, he has one further problem.

It is a connective, so it points backwards at the sentence before it rather than at a noun inside its own clause. It still obeys the same rule: 都 (dōu) after it excludes what you just said, 还 (hái) after it adds to what you just said. This is one of the most useful items on the page for essay writing, because it links two paragraphs without repeating the whole idea.

The error: 除了 (chú le) with nothing at all

The single most common learner sentence in this area is the one that opens the frame and never closes it.

• 除了他，大家来了 (chú le tā, dà jiā lái le) - WRONG. No adverb, so no reading.
• 除了他，大家都来了。 (chú le tā, dà jiā dōu lái le.) - RIGHT.

English gets away with it because 'apart from him, everybody came' carries the exclusion in the preposition. Mandarin does not put the meaning in 除了 (chú le) at all, so a second half without 都 (dōu), 还 (hái) or 也 (yě) has nothing to say. The sentence is not ambiguous; it is unfinished.

Build the habit as a pair. When you say 除了 (chú le), you owe the listener an adverb, and you should already know which one.

Register

The frame itself is neutral and belongs everywhere. What moves is the closer:

• Bare 除了 (chú le), no closer: conversation, messaging, anything spoken.
• 除了...以外: neutral, safe in writing and speech alike, and the default to learn.
• 除了...之外 and 除此之外 (chú cǐ zhī wài): written register, essays, reports, formal speech.
• 除...外: newspaper headlines and legal prose. Read only.

One more thing a learner rarely notices: 除了 (chú le) can hold a whole verb phrase, not only a noun. 除了睡觉以外 (chú le shuì jiào yǐ wài) singles out an activity, and this is where the pattern earns its keep in real writing.

Worked examples

1. 除了他以外，大家都来了。 (chú le tā yǐ wài, dà jiā dōu lái le.) - Apart from him, everybody came. 都 in the second half, so he is out.
2. 除了中文以外，他还会说英文。 (chú le zhōng wén yǐ wài, tā hái huì shuō yīng wén.) - Besides Chinese, he also speaks English. 还 in the second half, so Chinese is in: he speaks both.
3. 除了小李以外，别人都不知道。 (chú le xiǎo lǐ yǐ wài, bié rén dōu bù zhī dào.) - Nobody knows except Xiao Li. 都 with a negative: the exclusion reading survives negation untouched.
4. 除了睡觉以外，他什么都不做。 (chú le shuì jiào yǐ wài, tā shén me dōu bú zuò.) - He does nothing but sleep. X is a verb phrase; 什么都不 is the ordinary 'nothing at all' pattern sitting inside the frame.
5. 除了他之外，还有两个人知道。 (chú le tā zhī wài, hái yǒu liǎng ge rén zhī dào.) - Besides him, two other people know. Formal closer plus 还, so he knows and so do two others.
6. 除此之外，他还有一个问题。 (chú cǐ zhī wài, tā hái yǒu yí ge wèn tí.) - Besides that, he has one further problem. The set connective, pointing back at the previous sentence.

Common mistakes

1. No adverb in the second half. 除了他，大家来了 (chú le tā, dà jiā lái le) has opened the frame and abandoned it. One of 都 (dōu), 还 (hái) or 也 (yě) is compulsory: 除了他，大家都来了 (chú le tā, dà jiā dōu lái le).
2. Reaching for 都dōu (dōu) when you meant to add. 除了中文以外，他都会说英文 (chú le zhōng wén yǐ wài, tā dōu huì shuō yīng wén) says the opposite of what you wanted, or nothing at all. Adding needs 还 (hái): 除了中文以外，他还会说英文 (chú le zhōng wén yǐ wài, tā hái huì shuō yīng wén).
3. Translating 除chú了le (chú le) as 'except' and stopping there. It is not a preposition with a meaning; it is the first half of a frame. Until the adverb lands, the sentence has not chosen a meaning.
4. Mixing the closers. It is 以外 (yǐ wài) or 之外 (zhī wài), never 以之外 (yǐ zhī wài) and never a bare 外 (wài) after a normal noun. Pick one closer, or drop it entirely.
5. Putting the adverb before the subject. 都 (dōu), 还 (hái) and 也 (yě) are adverbs and sit between the subject and the verb. 除了他以外，都大家来了 (chú le tā yǐ wài, dōu dà jiā lái le) is back to front; the subject 大家 (dà jiā) comes first.
6. Using 除chú此cǐ以yǐ外wài (chú cǐ yǐ wài) for a noun. The connective replaces a whole previous statement, so it does not take an X of its own. If you are singling out a specific thing, name it: 除了这个问题以外 (chú le zhè ge wèn tí yǐ wài), not 除此以外这个问题 (chú cǐ yǐ wài zhè ge wèn tí).

See also

• 连...都/也: saying 'even' - the sister frame, where the second half is again the half that has to be there, and where 都 (dōu) is doing the same backwards-looking summing-up job.
• Topic-comment structure - why the 除了 clause sits out front at all, and how a Mandarin sentence sets its topic before commenting on it.
• Negation: 不 (bù) vs 没 (méi) - the negative second halves (别人都不知道 (bié rén dōu bù zhī dào), 他什么都不做 (tā shén me dōu bú zuò)) and which negator each one wants.
• Conjunctions - where 除此之外 (chú cǐ zhī wài) sits among the other linking words that open a sentence.
• Formal connectives - the written-register family that 之外 (zhī wài) belongs to.