# Trừ / ngoại trừ: except in Vietnamese (B1)

> Trừ means "except": it takes someone or something out of what you've just said. Put it after the main statement: Ai cũng đi, trừ anh Nam.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tru-except/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**except**

Pattern: `[statement], trừ / ngoại trừ + [noun]`

Level: B1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: tru, ngoai tru

*Trừ* means "except": it takes someone or something out of what you've just said. Put it after the main statement: *Ai cũng đi, trừ anh Nam.* Everyone's going except Nam. *Quán mở cửa mỗi ngày, trừ thứ hai.* The shop's open every day except Monday. The main statement usually has an "all" in it, such as *ai cũng* (everyone) or *mỗi ngày* (every day), and *trừ* takes something away from it.

It can also start the sentence, often with *ra* after the exception: *Trừ sầu riêng ra, trái cây gì em cũng thích.* Apart from durian, I like every fruit.

*Ngoại trừ* means the same and sounds more formal, so you'll see it in notices and at work: *Tất cả phải có mặt, ngoại trừ người nghỉ phép.*

Its opposite is *kể cả* (including): *Ai cũng đi, kể cả anh Nam.* For "unless", followed by a whole sentence, use *trừ khi*: *Em sẽ tới, trừ khi phải tăng ca.* On its own, *trừ* is also the verb "subtract" or "deduct": *Mười trừ ba là bảy.* Ten minus three is seven.

## Examples

- Ai cũng đi, trừ anh Nam. — Everyone's going except Nam.
- Quán mở cửa mỗi ngày, trừ thứ hai. — The shop is open every day except Monday.
- Saigon: Trừ sầu riêng ra, trái cây gì em cũng thích. | Hà Nội: Trừ sầu riêng ra, hoa quả gì em cũng thích. — Apart from durian, I like every kind of fruit.
- Tất cả phải có mặt, ngoại trừ người nghỉ phép. — Everyone must attend, except people on leave.

## Words in this pattern

- [trừ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/tru-except/#s_tru_except): except

## Compare

- [Unless: trừ khi, trừ phi](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tru-phi-unless/): unless
- [Including: kể cả](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/ke-ca-including/): including
- [Sums: cộng với, trừ đi, nhân với, chia cho](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/arithmetic/): arithmetic

Previous in Linking ideas: [Even: thậm chí](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tham-chi-even/)
Next in Linking ideas: [Giving examples: chẳng hạn (như), ví dụ, cụ thể là](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/vi-du-chang-han/)

---

Add to Vietnamese Buddy: https://app.vietnamesebuddy.com/waitlist?source=grammar%3Au_tru_except
In the app, the grammar points from your own class material are kept with their status, and any word you meet while reading can go into your lexicon with its audio, ready to study.