Tranne
When we make exceptions, we are excluding something or someone. In Italian, there’s a similar word to “exception” with exactly the same meaning: eccezione.
There’s also another word that doesn’t sound at all like “exception” and is tranne. Interesting, right?
Well, in today’s lesson, you’re going to learn how to say except for in a sentence.
Let’s have a quick look at some sentences:
Ha invitato tutti tranne Lucia.
He invited everyone except for Lucia.
Vado in palestra tutti i giorni tranne la domenica.
I go to the gym every day except for Sundays.
Tranne: examples
Let’s have a look at some more examples:
C’erano tutti tranne me.
Everyone was there except for me.
Ho letto tutti i capitoli tranne l’ultimo.
I read all chapters except for the last one.
Mi piacciono tutte le materie tranne la matematica.
I like all subjects except for mathematics.
Tutti hanno accettato tranne te.
Everyone accepted, except for you.
As you can see in the examples above, after tranne, we usually say me and te, instead of io and tu.
Ad eccezione di
There’s also another way of saying tranne but it’s much longer and less common. If you’re writing a formal email or an essay, you could show off by writing ad eccezione di.
Depending on what follows this expression, we might say ad eccezione del/della/dello/dell’/dei/delle/degli.
Here are some examples:
Hanno assistito tutti alla conferenza ad eccezione di Marco.
Everyone attended the conference except for Marco.
Dovete leggere tutti gli articoli ad eccezione del primo.
You have to read all articles except for the first one.
Tranne, eccetto and a parte: what’s the difference?
If you want to say “except for” in Italian you can also you the words eccetto and a parte. But what is the difference between them?
Tranne, a parte, and eccetto all have the same meaning but are sometimes used in different contexts.
Tranne and a parte are more informal and mainly used while speaking, while eccetto is more formal, used in written Italian, and is often used to give rules.
For example, on road signs, you never write “tranne bus“, but “eccetto bus“.
More examples:
Sono bravo in tutte le materie, tranne/a parte l’inglese.
I’m good in all subjects, except / apart from English.
Tollero tutto, eccetto l’ignoranza.
I tolerate everything except ignorance.
Still translating in your head? Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano's courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!
