Chinese word

除非

Pronunciation

Pinyinchú fēi

Meaning

  • conjunctionunless

Example

我们会去，除非下雨。wǒ men huì qù chú fēi xià yǔ

We will go unless it rains.

Illustration for 除非 (unless)

More examples

除非他同意，否则这笔交易不会进行。chú fēi tā tóng yì fǒu zé zhè bǐ jiāo yì bú huì jìn xíng

Unless he agrees, the deal will not go through.

Core concept

Sets a boundary around a result by singling out the condition that determines whether the result can hold.

Common phrases

  • 除非...，否则...chú fēi fǒu zé

    unless ___ otherwise ___

  • 除非...才会...chú fēi cái huì

    only if ___ will ___

Similar words

要不是yào bú shì: Describes conversationally what would happen if something were missing or untrue.
如果rú guǒ: Introduces a condition that must be satisfied for a result to occur.
要是yào shì: Introduces an informal condition for something that could happen.
否则fǒu zé: States the alternative result that occurs if the expected condition is not fulfilled.

Definition in Chinese

表示在某个条件不成立的情况下，结果不成立，换言之，只有在该条件成立时才成立，常用来说明例外。biǎo shì zài mǒu gè tiáo jiàn bù chéng lì de qíng kuàng xià jié guǒ bù chéng lì huàn yán zhī zhí yǒu zài gāi tiáo jiàn chéng lì shí cái chéng lì cháng yòng lái shuō míng lì wài

Word origin

除非 (chúfēi, "unless") is built from 除 (chú, "remove or exclude") + 非 (fēi, "not"), suggesting that nonqualifying cases are set aside so one special condition remains.

Usage tips

  • The clause marked by 除非 (chúfēi, "unless") names the condition, while the other clause gives the outcome; identifying these roles helps prevent the condition and result from being reversed.

Other meanings

  • except whenconjunction

Opposites

Word lists with this word