Learn Spanish (Latin America): Lo informal es inapropiado, excepto los sábados. - Informal things are inappropriate, except on Saturdays.

Lo informal es inapropiado, excepto los sábados.

Informal things are inappropriate, except on Saturdays.

Breakdown of Lo informal es inapropiado, excepto los sábados.

the ... thing (neuter article)

excepto

except

Questions & Answers about Lo informal es inapropiado, excepto los sábados.

Why does the sentence start with lo informal instead of el informal?

Lo is the neuter article. When you put lo before an adjective like informal, it turns it into an abstract noun meaning "informal things" or "that which is informal". Since it doesn't refer to a specific masculine or feminine noun, we use the neuter lo.

Since sábados is plural, shouldn't excepto be pluralized to match?

No, excepto is invariable. It acts as a preposition here, meaning it never changes its ending to match the gender or number of the noun that follows it. It is always excepto.

Could I use salvo or menos instead of excepto in this sentence?

Yes! Salvo los sábados or menos los sábados mean the exact same thing as excepto los sábados. All three are common ways to express exclusion and are perfectly interchangeable here.

The English translation says "except on Saturdays". Why isn't there a word for "on" before los sábados?

In Spanish, you don't use a preposition like en to say "on" a day of the week. You simply use the definite article (el or los). Here, los sábados naturally translates to "on Saturdays".