How to say “except” in 45 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- salvo/ˈsalbo/ Spanish
- إلا/ʔillaː/ Arabic
- 除了/ʈ͡ʂʰu³⁵ lə³/ Chinese
- εκτός/eˈktos/ Greek
- বাদে/bad̪e/ Bengali
- தவிர/t̪ɐʋɪɾɐ/ Tamil
“except” in Spanish: salvo · French: sauf · German: außer · Italian: tranne · Portuguese: salvo · Chinese: 除了 · Arabic: إلا · Turkish: başka
It is commonest in Polish, where tylko is the 26th most used word.
Except in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian përveç[pəɹˈvɛtʃ] except; apart from; besides #495
- Arabic إلا/ʔillaː/ except, save, but, barring; other than,… #226
- Armenian բացի/bɑˈt͡sʰi/ besides, except, apart from #339
- Basque landa/landa/ #1,661
- Bengali বাদে/bad̪e/ #997
- Bosnian do/dô/ only, except #68
- Bulgarian освен[oˈsvɛn] except, apart from, besides #246
- Catalan tret[ˈtɾet] #529
- Chinese 除了/ʈ͡ʂʰu³⁵ lə³/ except; except for #189
- Croatian do/dô/ only, except #76
- Czech kromě[ˈkromɲɛ] except, but #692
- Danish undtagen[ˈɔnˈtˢæjˀən] except, bar, barring, save, but #1,885
- Dutch behalve/bəˈɦɑl.və/ #723
- English but/ˈbʌt/ Apart from, except, excluding #36
- Esperanto krom/krom/ except, save, sans #409
- Finnish paitsi/ˈpɑi̯tsi(ˣ)/ except, other than #485
- French sauf/sof/ except, save #605
- Galician senón[seˈnoŋ] #438
- Georgian გარდა[ɡ̊äɾdä] besides; except for #557
- German außer/ˈaʊ̯sɐ/ except; besides; apart from #614
- Greek εκτός/eˈktos/ #261
- Hebrew אלא/ˈela/ but, except #330
- Hungarian kivéve[ˈkiveːvɛ] except, with the exception of, except for,… #872
- Icelandic nema[ˈnɛːma] #221
- Indonesian kecuali[kət͡ʃuˈali] #434
- Italian tranne/ˈtran.ne/ except, but, apart from #1,427
- Lithuanian išskyrus[ɪ¹ˈsʲkʲiːrʊs] except, excluding #539
- Macedonian освен[ˈɔsvɛn] except, apart from, besides #233
- Malay kecuali/kət͡ʃuali/ #503
- Malayalam ഒഴികെ/oɻiɡe/ #938
- Norwegian unntatt/ˈʉnˌtɑt/ #1,791
- Persian جز[d͡ʒoz] #498
- Polish tylko/ˈtɘl.kɔ/ except, only, just #26
- Portuguese salvo/ˈsaw.vu/ except, save #1,457
- Russian без[bʲɪs] without, aside from, except, minus, free… #136
- Serbian do/dô/ only, except #72
- Slovak okrem/ˈɔkrɛm/ except, but #333
- Spanish salvo/ˈsalbo/ except, apart from #811
- Swedish förutom/ˈføːrʉˌtɔm/ #874
- Tagalog kundi/kunˈdiʔ/ except; but; besides #263
- Tamil தவிர/t̪ɐʋɪɾɐ/ except, besides, excluding, save for #270
- Telugu తప్ప/t̪apːa/ save, but, except, unless, without #279
- Turkish başka/bɑʃˈkɑ/ #74
- Ukrainian крім[krʲim] except, except for, apart from, aside from,… #687
- Vietnamese riêng[ziəŋ˧˧] as to; as regards; except for #653
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.