Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ese vestido es inapropiado, excepto para esta área. - That dress is inappropriate, except for this area.

Yes! Since this lesson focuses on exclusion markers, you can easily swap excepto with salvo or menos. You could say salvo para esta área or menos para esta área and the meaning remains exactly the same.

Wait, isn't área a masculine word? Why does it use the feminine esta instead of este?

área is actually a feminine noun! Because it starts with a stressed 'a' sound, it uses the masculine article el (el área) just to avoid the awkward double 'a' sound. However, this rule doesn't apply to demonstratives like esta. You must use the feminine esta área because the noun is feminine.

Why use es instead of está to say the dress is inappropriate?

Using es (from ser) means being inappropriate is a fixed characteristic of the dress itself, like its design or cut. If you used está (from estar), it would sound more like the dress currently looks inappropriate on the person wearing it, rather than the clothing item itself being the problem.

I always mix up ese and eso. Why is it Ese vestido and not Eso vestido?