Learn Hardcore Chinese: duì fùmǔ láishuō, wǒ de jiànkāng bǐ chéngjì gèng zhòngyào. - For my parents, my health is more important than my grades.

对 (duì): literally towards / to
…: the person or group
来说 (láishuō): literally speaking / to say, but here it has a more abstract function

So 对父母来说 means “for my parents / as far as my parents are concerned / from my parents’ perspective.”

The whole sentence:

对父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要。
For my parents, my health is more important than grades.

Do I always need 来说? Can I just say 对父母，我的健康比成绩更重要?

You can drop 来说, but there are some nuances:

With 来说: 对父母来说，…
- Very common, smooth, and clearly means “for my parents / from my parents’ point of view.”
- Feels more like a fixed expression.
Without 来说: 对父母，我的健康比成绩更重要。
- Grammatically understandable.
- Sounds a bit less natural in everyday speech; many native speakers would instinctively add 来说 here.
- Without 来说, 对 + person more often expresses “towards / to (someone)” in a more concrete sense, e.g.
  - 对他很好 – be very good to him
  - 对我说 – say to me

So in this kind of “for X, Y is more important” sentence, it is more natural to keep 来说:

对父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要。 ✅ (best)

How is 对…来说 different from 对于 or 在…看来?

All three can translate as “for / from the point of view of”, but usage differs:

对…来说
- Very common in spoken and written Chinese.
- Typically used for opinions, importance, difficulty, suitability, etc.
- Example: 对我来说，中文不难。 – For me, Chinese is not hard.
对于 (duìyú)
- More formal, more common in written or official Chinese.
- Often followed by abstract topics: 问题, 政策, 教育, 环境, etc.
- Example: 对于这个问题，他有不同的看法。 – Regarding this issue, he has a different viewpoint.
在…看来 (zài…kànlái)
- Literally “in X’s view / in X’s eyes”.
- Emphasizes subjective opinion.
- Example: 在父母看来，健康最重要。 – In my parents’ eyes, health is the most important.

In your sentence, you could also say:

在父母看来，我的健康比成绩更重要。 – Also natural.
对于父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要。 – Grammatically okay, but feels heavier/more formal than necessary for everyday talk.

The most neutral, natural version in everyday language is still:

对父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要。

What exactly is the function of 的 in 我的健康?

的 (de) here marks possession or association, similar to English “’s” or “of”.

我 – I / me
的 – possessive marker
健康 – health

So 我的健康 literally means “my health”.

Structure:
[possessor] + 的 + [thing possessed]

Examples:

我的书 – my book
他的父母 – his parents
他们的看法 – their opinion

In some simple, close relationships, Chinese sometimes drops 的, like 我妈, 他爸, but with 健康, it’s more natural to keep 的 here:

我的健康 ✅
我健康 ❌ (not the same; this would be read as “I am healthy” if anything)

Why is there no word for “is” in 我的健康比成绩更重要? Where is “to be”?

Chinese usually does not use 是 (shì) before adjectives the way English uses “to be”.

In English you say:

My health is important.

In Chinese, adjectives (like 重要: important) can function directly as a predicate, so you just say:

我的健康很重要。 – My health (is) important.

You do not say:

✗ 我的健康是重要。 (sounds wrong or very marked in most contexts)

In your sentence:

我的健康比成绩更重要。
Literally: My health, compared to grades, even more important.
The “is” is understood and not expressed with a specific word.

How do 比 and 更 work together here? Could you drop 更 or 比?

比 (bǐ) and 更 (gèng) both express comparison, but in slightly different ways.

比: introduces what you are comparing against.
Pattern: A 比 B + adjective
- 我的健康比成绩重要。 – My health is more important than grades.
更: means “even more / still more”, adding emphasis to the degree.
Pattern with both: A 比 B 更 + adjective
- 我的健康比成绩更重要。 – My health is even more important than grades.

So:

With both 比 and 更 (your sentence):
- 我的健康比成绩更重要。
- Feels slightly stronger/more emphatic: even more important.
With 比, without 更:
- 我的健康比成绩重要。
- Also correct and common; simply more important.
With 更, without 比:
- 我的健康更重要。
- Means “my health is even more important”, but the listener must guess “more important than what?” from context.

So your version with 比…更… is perfectly natural; 更 is optional but adds emphasis.

What is the basic word order of this comparison structure?

The pattern is:

A + 比 + B + (更) + Adjective

Where:

A – the thing that has more of the quality
B – the thing it’s compared with
更 – optional, adds “even more”
Adjective – the quality being compared

In your sentence:

A = 我的健康 (my health)
比 = 比
B = 成绩 (grades)
更 = 更
Adjective = 重要 (important)

So:

我的健康比成绩更重要。
My health is more (even more) important than grades.

This word order is very fixed in this pattern; you cannot scramble it like English sometimes does.

Can I reverse it and say 成绩比我的健康更重要?

Yes, grammatically you can, but the meaning changes:

我的健康比成绩更重要。
– My health is more important than grades.
成绩比我的健康更重要。
– Grades are more important than my health.

The thing right before 比 is what you are saying has more of the adjective.

So be careful:

A 比 B 更重要 → A is more important than B.
Switching A and B flips the meaning.

Why isn’t there a classifier (measure word) before 父母, 健康, or 成绩?

In this sentence, all three are used in ways that don’t require a measure word:

父母 (fùmǔ) – parents
- Refers to “my parents” as a concept/group, not counting them.
- You would use a classifier if you were counting sets of parents:
  - 一对父母 – one pair of parents
健康 (jiànkāng) – health
- An abstract, uncountable noun here.
- You are talking about health in general, not a countable unit.
成绩 (chéngjì) – grades/results
- Here it refers to grades in general as an abstract category, not a specific number of tests or scores.
- If you were counting specific results, you might say:
  - 一次考试的成绩 – the grade for one exam

Chinese uses measure words mainly when explicitly counting or specifying a number or a specific instance, not for general, abstract mentions like in this sentence.

What exactly does 成绩 (chéngjì) mean here? Is it only “grades”?

成绩 generally means:

academic grades / test results, or
achievement / performance (especially measurable results).

In the context of 父母, the most natural understanding is:

school grades, exam scores, or academic performance.

So 我的健康比成绩更重要 is most naturally:

My health is more important than my grades.

In other contexts, 成绩 can also mean:

工作成绩 – work performance/results
运动成绩 – sports results/times

But in a sentence about parents, learners, and importance, people will almost automatically interpret it as school grades.

Is 健康 (jiànkāng) here a noun (health) or an adjective (healthy)?

In this sentence, 健康 is a noun: health.

Evidence:

It follows 的 in 我的健康, which marks it as “the health that belongs to me”.
The thing being compared with 成绩 is “my health”, not “I am healthy”.

Compare:

Noun usage (like in your sentence):
- 我的健康很重要。 – My health is important.
- 他的健康不好。 – His health is not good.
Adjective usage:
- 我很健康。 – I am healthy.
- 这种食物不太健康。 – This kind of food is not very healthy.

So here, 健康 = health (noun).

Why is there a comma after 对父母来说? What role does that first part play?

The comma marks topic–comment structure, which is very common in Chinese.

Topic: 对父母来说 – As for my parents / From my parents’ point of view
Comment: 我的健康比成绩更重要。– My health is more important than grades.

So the structure is:

[For X]， [Y is more important than Z].

In English we often embed this information into the main clause (“For my parents, my health is more important than grades”), but Chinese likes to set up the “frame” or “topic” first, then comment on it.

You could also put the phrase later:

我的健康对父母来说比成绩更重要。 – grammatically okay, but less natural-sounding than the original; the fronted version is smoother.

Can 对父母来说 go in the middle, like 我的健康对父母来说比成绩更重要?

Yes, 我的健康对父母来说比成绩更重要 is grammatically correct, but:

It sounds a bit more heavy / bookish.
The original 对父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要 is more natural and common in everyday speech.

Native speakers strongly prefer to put this kind of “from X’s point of view” phrase at the beginning as a topic, especially when it is relatively long, like 对父母来说.

Could I omit 我的 and just say 对父母来说，健康比成绩更重要?

Yes, that is also natural:

对父母来说，健康比成绩更重要。

This slightly changes the nuance:

我的健康比成绩更重要。
– Very specifically “my health” (or “my own health”).
健康比成绩更重要。
– Health in general is more important than grades (it still implies the child’s health, but it’s more general and slogan-like).

Both are acceptable; including 我的 makes it more personal and specific.

Is there any difference in feeling between this Chinese sentence and the English “For my parents, my health is more important than my grades”?

The overall meaning matches very well, but there are some subtle differences in feel:

Chinese with 对父母来说 clearly marks the parents’ perspective and naturally fits the topic–comment rhythm.
The use of 比…更重要 feels very straightforward and neutral; it doesn’t sound dramatic or exaggerated.
The sentence in Chinese is slightly more concise because it doesn’t need a verb “to be”.

So:

对父母来说，我的健康比成绩更重要。

has almost exactly the same meaning and naturalness as:

For my parents, my health is more important than my grades.

in everyday English.