Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.

Health is a basic priority for me.

Breakdown of Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.

• είμαι: to be
• για: for
• εμένα: me
• η υγεία: the health
• η προτεραιότητα: the priority
• βασικός: basic

Questions & Answers about Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.

What does η mean in Η υγεία and why is it used here?

Η is the definite article in Greek, equivalent to “the” in English.

• η = the (for feminine nouns in the nominative singular)
• υγεία (health) is a feminine noun, so it takes η.

So Η υγεία literally means “The health”, but in English we usually just say “Health” without the article in this kind of sentence.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

A good approximation in Latin letters is:

Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.
[i iˈʝia ˈine vasiˈci proteɾaiˈotita ʝa eˈmena]

Broken down:

• Η – i
• υγεία – i-*YI-a (more exactly: i-ʝI-a*)
• είναι – EE-neh
• βασική – va-si-KEE
• προτεραιότητα – pro-te-re-*O-ti-ta*
• για – ya
• εμένα – e-*ME-na*

Why does υγεία take the article η and not ο or το?

Greek has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, neuter.

• ο = the (masculine, nominative singular)
• η = the (feminine, nominative singular)
• το = the (neuter, nominative singular)

The noun υγεία (health) is feminine, so it uses η:

• η υγεία = the health

You would use ο with masculine nouns (e.g. ο φίλος – the friend) and το with neuter nouns (e.g. το παιδί – the child).

What does είναι mean and what form is it?

είναι means “is” / “are”. It’s the 3rd person singular and plural form of the verb είμαι (“to be”) in the present tense:

• (εγώ) είμαι – I am
• (εσύ) είσαι – you are (singular)
• (αυτός/αυτή/αυτό) είναι – he / she / it is
• (εμείς) είμαστε – we are
• (εσείς) είστε – you are (plural or polite)
• (αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά) είναι – they are

So in this sentence είναι = “is”:
Η υγεία είναι… – Health is…

Could είναι be omitted, like you sometimes can omit “is” in other languages?

In standard modern Greek, you do not omit είναι in this kind of simple sentence.
You need it here:

• Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα. ✓
  (Health is a basic priority for me.)

Leaving out είναι would sound incomplete or incorrect in this case.

What does βασική mean, and why is it before προτεραιότητα?

βασική = “basic” / “fundamental” / “primary” (feminine form).

Greek adjectives typically come before the noun when they simply describe it:

• βασική προτεραιότητα – basic priority
• μεγάλο σπίτι – big house
• καλός φίλος – good friend

So βασική προτεραιότητα is the normal, neutral order: adjective + noun, just like in English (“basic priority”).

Why is the adjective βασική in the feminine form?

Adjectives in Greek must agree with the noun in:

• gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• number (singular / plural)
• case (nominative / accusative / etc.)

Here the noun is:

• προτεραιότητα (priority) – feminine, singular, nominative.

So the adjective also has to be:

• feminine, singular, nominative → βασική

If the noun were masculine or neuter, the adjective would change:

• masculine: βασικός στόχος – basic goal
• feminine: βασική προτεραιότητα – basic priority
• neuter: βασικό ζήτημα – basic issue

What exactly does προτεραιότητα mean, and is it singular or plural?

προτεραιότητα means “priority” (in general or a single priority).
In this sentence it is:

• singular
• feminine
• nominative

Plural would be:

• προτεραιότητες = priorities

So you could say, for example:
Έχω πολλές προτεραιότητες. – I have many priorities.

What does για mean here, and why is it used with εμένα?

για is a preposition that most often means “for” or “about”.

In this sentence:

• για εμένα = “for me”

Some common uses of για:

• για σένα – for you
• για το παιδί – for the child
• Μιλάμε για την υγεία. – We are talking about health.

So για εμένα literally is “for me”, just like in English.

Why is it εμένα and not με? What’s the difference?

Greek personal pronouns have:

• weak (clitic) forms: short, unstressed: με, σε, τον, τη(ν), το…
• strong (stressed) forms: full, emphasised: εμένα, εσένα, αυτόν, αυτήν…

Here:

• για εμένα (for me) – using the strong form, usually to emphasise: for me personally / as far as I’m concerned.

In everyday speech you will also hear:

• για μένα – same meaning, but μένα is a common reduced/colloquial form of εμένα.

So:

• για μένα = για εμένα = for me
  The strong form (εμένα/μένα) puts some focus on the person.

Can we say για μένα instead of για εμένα? Is there a difference in politeness?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

• Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για μένα.

This is very common and natural in speech.

Nuances:

• για μένα – more colloquial/neutral, what you’ll hear most in conversation.
• για εμένα – a bit more careful or formal sounding (e.g. in writing, presentations), or when you want to emphasise clearly: “for me (personally)”.

In most contexts they are interchangeable without a big change in meaning.

What case is εμένα in, grammatically?

εμένα is the strong accusative form of the first-person singular pronoun (“me”).

Roughly:

• εγώ – I (nominative, subject)
• (ε)μένα – me (accusative, object)

With για (“for”), you need the accusative:

• για εμένα – for me
• για εσένα – for you
• για αυτόν – for him

So εμένα is the emphasised object form used after prepositions like για.

Is the word order fixed, or can we move για εμένα to the front?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, and moving elements often changes the emphasis, not the basic meaning.

All of these are correct:

1. Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.
   – neutral: Health is a basic priority for me.

2. Για εμένα, η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα.
   – emphasises “for me”: As far as I’m concerned, health is a basic priority.

3. Για μένα η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα.
   – very natural spoken Greek, same emphasis.

The version you gave is a perfectly natural neutral order.

Could we say Η υγεία είναι η βασική μου προτεραιότητα? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, that’s a very natural sentence:

• Η υγεία είναι η βασική μου προτεραιότητα.
  = “Health is my main priority.”

Differences in nuance:

• Η υγεία είναι βασική προτεραιότητα για εμένα.
  – Health is a basic/fundamental priority for me (one of my main priorities).

• Η υγεία είναι η βασική μου προτεραιότητα.
  – Health is the main / number-one priority for me.

So the second version is stronger: it usually implies it’s your top priority.

Why is there an accent on words like υγεία, βασική, εμένα?

In Greek, the accent mark (´) shows which syllable is stressed when you pronounce the word.

Examples:

• υγεία – υ-γε-ια → stress on γε → i-*ʝI-a*
• βασική – βα-σι-κή → stress on κή → va-si-KEE
• εμένα – ε-μέ-να → stress on μέ → e-*ME-na*

The accent is part of the spelling and very important for correct pronunciation and sometimes for distinguishing between different words.