How to say “except for”: Italian grammar lesson 44

Start here

You’ll receive my free resources together with my best offers! Opt out at any time.

Create a free lifetime account to get access to all the free lesson and other resources.

I’ll take you to your shiny new student dashboard.

What does tranne mean in Italian?

When we make exceptions, we are excluding something or someone. In Italian, there’s a similar word to the word 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 use except for in a sentence.

Let’s have a quick look at some examples:

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.

How to say except for in Italian

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.

Except for in Italian

What is ad eccezione di in Italian?

There’s also another way of saying tranne but it’s much longer, less common, and used in formal environments.

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.

How to use tranne in Italian

What’s the difference between tranne, eccetto and a parte?

If you want to say except for you can also use the words eccetto and a parte. But what is the difference between them?

Free Guide
How to Learn Languages Fast

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.
  • 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.

Here are some more examples:

Sono bravo in tutte le materie, tranne o a parte l’inglese.

I’m good in all subjects, except or 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!

FAQs on How to say “except for”: Italian grammar lesson 44

Stefano

Italian language tutor, course author, and polyglot. After learning 12 languages, I can tell you that we all master languages by listening and mimicking. With my method, you'll be speaking Italian from Lesson 1.

Follow me to fluency​

Receive my free resources once a week together with my best offers! 

Create a free lifetime account to get access to all the free lesson and other resources.

I’ll take you to your shiny new student dashboard.

Leave a Reply

Share:

Still translating in your head?

Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano’s courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!
[mwai_chatbot_v2 id="support"]
Try my courses
for free​
ripeti con me mockup sm

Let me show you around

How long to fluency?

Find out how long it will take you to master Italian!
Get on the right track in 3 minutes.

dolce vita logo

We're already friends!

Coming from Luca and Marina?
Here's a special deal for you!
Just tell me where I should send the coupon.

50% OFF
all language resources

We're already friends!

Coming from All Language Resources?
Here's a special deal for you!
Just tell me where I should send the coupon.

50% OFF
GRAB A COUPON NOW, REDEEM IT LATER
50% OFF

To receive free resources once a week together with my best offers, just tell me where to send everything. Opt out at any time.

Create a free lifetime account to get access to all the free lesson and other resources.

I’ll take you to your shiny new student dashboard.