Todos chegaram, exceto ele.

Here todos means everyone or all of them, depending on context.

• todo = every / whole / all in the singular
• todos = all in the plural

Examples:

• todo dia = every day
• todos os dias = every day / all days
• todos chegaram = everyone arrived / they all arrived

So in this sentence, todos is plural and works as the subject.

Chegaram is the preterite (simple past) of chegar for they.

Conjugation:

• eu cheguei
• você/ele/ela chegou
• nós chegamos
• vocês/eles/elas chegaram

Since todos is grammatically plural, the verb also has to be plural:

• Todos chegaram. = Everyone arrived.

Even though English often uses everyone with a singular verb, Portuguese treats todos as plural.

Because todos is plural, so the verb must agree with it.

• todos = plural
• chegaram = 3rd person plural

So:

• Todos chegaram = correct
• Todos chegou = incorrect

Portuguese has stronger visible subject-verb agreement than English, so this kind of matching is very important.

Exceto means except and introduces the person or thing excluded from the statement.

In Todos chegaram, exceto ele, it means:

• everyone arrived
• he is the exception

You can think of exceto as functioning similarly to except in English.

Other examples:

• Todos vieram, exceto Maria.
• Gostei de tudo, exceto do final.

Because after exceto, Portuguese uses the stressed subject/disjunctive pronoun ele, not the unstressed object pronoun o.

Compare:

• Eu vi ele. / Eu o vi. = object use
• Exceto ele = after exceto, use ele

So:

• exceto ele = correct
• exceto o = incorrect here

This is similar to how English says except him, using a full pronoun form after except.

Yes. Menos ele is very common in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

So these are both possible:

• Todos chegaram, exceto ele.
• Todos chegaram, menos ele.

The difference is mainly style:

• exceto ele = a bit more formal or written
• menos ele = more common and conversational

Both are natural in Brazil.

The comma separates the main statement from the exception phrase.

• main statement: Todos chegaram
• exception: exceto ele

This punctuation is very natural in writing because exceto ele adds extra information after the main clause.

You may sometimes see variation depending on style, but with this kind of short exception phrase, the comma is very common and standard:

• Todos chegaram, exceto ele.

Yes. Portuguese often uses todos where English would naturally say everyone.

So:

• Todos chegaram. can mean Everyone arrived.
• It can also mean They all arrived, depending on context.

Portuguese does not always need a separate word exactly matching English everyone.

A very common alternative is:

• Todo mundo chegou. = Everyone arrived.

Both are natural, though todo mundo is often more conversational.

Yes, absolutely.

It has:

• a subject: Todos
• a verb: chegaram
• an exception phrase: exceto ele

Portuguese often omits extra words that English might include, such as there in everyone got there or all of them. The sentence is already complete and natural as written.

A very everyday version would often be:

• Todo mundo chegou, menos ele.

This sounds very natural in spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

Compared with the original:

• Todos chegaram, exceto ele. = slightly more neutral or formal
• Todo mundo chegou, menos ele. = more conversational

Both are correct, and learners should understand both.

A common Brazilian pronunciation is approximately:

• che-GA-rãw

A few helpful notes:

• ch in Portuguese sounds like English sh
• the stress falls on ga
• the final -am in this verb form is usually nasal, not pronounced like English am

So it sounds roughly like:

• sheh-GAH-rãw

The exact sound varies by region, but that approximation is good for learners.

Yes, but the original order is the most straightforward.

Common and natural:

• Todos chegaram, exceto ele.

You could also say:

• Exceto ele, todos chegaram.

That version puts more emphasis on the exception.

Both are correct, but for most learners, the original sentence is the safest and most neutral pattern to use.