Exception — Saying "..except"

Exception – Saying ‘..except'

The most common word used for exception is illā إلّا. The rules of إلّا are as follows:

To understand the usage of Illaa we need to look at two things:

1. Is the sentence affirmative (i.e, it has no negation) or negative (i.e., it has negation)?

2. Is the sentence of exception complete or partial (i.e, is the thing from which the exception is made is mentioned explicitly)?

If it is preceded by an affirmative sentence and complete , the noun that follows إلّا will be accusative

قام القومُ إلا زيدًا

The people stood up except for Zaid

(Here the sentece is affirmative and qawm is mentioned making it complete)

If إلّا is preceded by a negative sentence and the sentence is complete then the word after illaa can be either accussative or it can take the case of the the thing from which the exception is made.

ما قامَ إلا زيدٌ
ما قامَ إلا زيداً

No one stood up except Zaid

If the sentence of exception is incomplete (i.e., the thing from which the exception is made is not mentioned), then illaa has no grammatical effect, and the noun after it takes its i'rab (case) according to its role in the sentence.

ما رأيتُ إلا زيدًا

I did not see (anyone) except Zaid

(Here qaym is not mentioned, making it an incomplete sentence of exception)

There are other words used for exception as well like

غير، سواء، ما عدا، خلا and خاشا