HSK 5 · Function Words

除非 chúfēi “only if (…” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 除非 means

  1. only if (…, or otherwise, …)
  2. only when
  3. only in the case that
  4. unless

How to say 除非

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale除chú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale非fēi1st tone, high and level

除非 in a sentence

  1. 我不会原谅你，除非你真诚地道歉。

    Wǒ búhuì yuánliàng nǐ, chúfēi nǐ zhēnchéng de dàoqiàn.

    I won’t forgive you unless you apologise sincerely.

    Sentence #1477296 from Tatoeba

  2. 除非是你做饭，否则我是不会吃的。

    Chúfēi shì nǐ zuòfàn, fǒuzé wǒ shì bú huì chī de.

    I won’t eat it unless you’re the one cooking.

    Sentence #381410 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 除非雨停了，我们才会出去。

    Chúfēi yǔ tíng le, wǒmen cái huì chūqù.

    We won’t go out unless the rain stops.

    Sentence #332695 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 除非 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 除 (chú) with each of its parts in a different colour
除chúto get rid of
  • 阝place
  • 余surplus · yú
The character 非 (fēi) drawn as one shape
非fēito not be; not

非 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 除非

除 9 strokes · 非 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

除非 (chúfēi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 除非 (chúfēi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 除非

Words with 除

除了chúle · besides除夕Chúxī · lunar New Year’s Eve删除shānchú · to delete除chú · except解除jiěchú · to remove排除páichú · to rule out清除qīngchú · to clear away消除xiāochú · to eliminate开除kāichú · to expel废除fèichú · to abolish

Words with 非

非常fēicháng · extremely非fēi · to not be非法fēifǎ · illegal是非shìfēi · right and wrong并非bìngfēi · to not be无非wúfēi · nothing but

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不如bùrú · not equal to不要紧búyàojǐn · unimportant册cè · book朝cháo · towards此外cǐwài · besides从而cóng'ér · thus单独dāndú · alone的确díquè · really

FAQs

除非 (chúfēi) means “only if (…, or otherwise, …)” or “only when”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it chúfēi: chú with a 2nd tone, then fēi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 除非 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chufei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 除非 from the suggestions. Typing chufei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
除非 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.