Hindi mahalaga ang yaman.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• Hindi = not
• mahalaga = important
• ang = a marker that highlights the topic/focus of the sentence
• yaman = wealth, riches, or prosperity

So the sentence literally comes out close to Not important is the wealth, but in natural English it means Wealth is not important.

In Filipino, hindi usually comes before the word or idea it negates.

Here, it negates mahalaga:

• mahalaga = important
• hindi mahalaga = not important

So the sentence starts with the negative because the sentence is built around the idea not important.

Filipino often does not use a separate verb equivalent to is/are in simple equational or descriptive sentences.

In English, you say:

• Wealth is not important

In Filipino, you can simply say:

• Hindi mahalaga ang yaman

The relationship between wealth and not important is understood without needing a separate word for is.

Ang is a very common Filipino marker. In this sentence, it marks yaman as the topic or focused noun phrase:

• ang yaman = the wealth / wealth as the topic

It does not exactly equal the in English, although it can sometimes feel similar in translation. Its main job is grammatical, not just definiteness.

Filipino often puts the predicate first. In this sentence, the predicate is hindi mahalaga.

So the structure is:

• Hindi mahalaga = not important
• ang yaman = wealth

This gives:

• Hindi mahalaga ang yaman

That is a very normal Filipino pattern. English usually prefers subject + is + description, but Filipino often prefers description + topic.

Yes. Ang yaman ay hindi mahalaga is also correct.

Both mean the same thing:

• Hindi mahalaga ang yaman
• Ang yaman ay hindi mahalaga

The version with ay is more explicitly topic-first and can sound a little more formal, careful, or written, depending on context. In everyday speech, the shorter Hindi mahalaga ang yaman is very natural.

This is a very common point of confusion.

• yaman = wealth / riches / resources
  
  • a noun
• mayaman = rich
  • an adjective describing a person, family, country, etc.

Examples:

• Mayaman siya. = He/She is rich.
• Malaki ang yaman niya. = His/Her wealth is great.

So in your sentence, yaman is correct because the idea is about wealth, not about a rich person.

Yes, they are related, but they are not the same word.

• mahal can mean expensive
• mahal can also mean love or beloved, depending on context
• mahalaga means important or valuable

So although they are connected historically and in sense, you should learn mahalaga as its own word meaning important.

In this sentence:

• mahalaga = important
• hindi mahalaga = not important

It can be translated either way depending on context.

In many cases, ang does not match English the perfectly. So:

• ang yaman can mean wealth
• or the wealth

In a general statement like Hindi mahalaga ang yaman, the most natural English translation is usually just Wealth is not important.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

• heen-DEE ma-ha-LA-ga ang YA-man

A few notes:

• Hindi has stress on the second syllable: hin-DI
• mahalaga is commonly stressed on LA: ma-ha-LA-ga
• ang is pronounced roughly like ahng
• yaman is YA-man

Filipino pronunciation is generally more phonetic than English, so once you know the sounds, it is fairly predictable.

Hindi is the basic word for not in many sentences, especially when negating adjectives, verbs, or whole statements.

Here it negates an adjective:

• mahalaga → hindi mahalaga

But Filipino also has other negative words, especially wala, which is used for there is no / none / absent / does not have in many contexts.

For example:

• Hindi mahalaga ang yaman. = Wealth is not important.
• Walang yaman. = There is no wealth / No wealth

So hindi is very common, but it is not the only negative word in Filipino.