Hi Luke, The main words for but are: 然而 - but/however (formal) 但是 - but/however 不過 - but/however 可是 - but 但 - but 卻 - but/yet In your sentences, I would personally use 而 我喜歡A二她（則）喜歡B This means something more like “whereas” and if used for comparisons in this context Laurence

There is another meaning I would like to mention which is “除了/除了…之外” For instance: Everyone is there but you. 除了你，每个人都在。or除了你之外，每个人都在。 I haven’t told anyone but you. 除了你之外，我没告诉任何人。 As to your second example sentence, you can use this pattern in it,like: 除了一块蛋糕之外，我们吃了所有的(东西）。 The more natural way to say it in mandarin is 我们吃了所有的东西，就剩一块蛋糕。In English, l figure it is: we ate all, just left one slice of cake. I am not sure if this is the most natural way to say it in English,but we prefer to say it just like this.