Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.

Friendship is important for my mental health.

Breakdown of Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.

• være: to be
• viktig: important
• min: my
• for: for
• helsen: the health
• vennskapet: the friendship
• mental: mental

Questions & Answers about Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.

Why is there no article before vennskap?

In Norwegian, general statements about abstract or uncountable things often use no article.

• Vennskap er viktig ... = Friendship is important ... (friendship in general)
• Similarly: Vann er nødvendig. = Water is necessary.

You would only use an article if you were talking about a specific friendship:

• Det vennskapet vi har, er viktig. = That friendship we have is important.

So in your sentence, vennskap is used in a general, abstract sense, so there is no article.

Is vennskap singular or plural here? Can it be plural?

In this sentence, vennskap is singular and uncountable, referring to the concept of friendship.

There is a plural form vennskap / vennskapene, but it’s mostly used when you really want to talk about separate individual friendships:

• Jeg har mange nære vennskap.
  I have many close friendships.

In everyday speech, Norwegians often keep it in the singular, even when English might use a plural:

• Vennskap er viktig. (Singular, general)
• Friendships are important. (Plural in English)

So your sentence uses vennskap in the general, uncountable sense.

Why is the preposition for used in for min mentale helse and not til?

In Norwegian, the pattern for talking about something being good/bad/important for someone or something is usually:

[adjective] + for + [person/thing]

Examples:

• Det er viktig for meg. = It is important for me.
• Søvn er bra for helsa. = Sleep is good for (your) health.
• Røyking er skadelig for lungene. = Smoking is harmful to the lungs.

Til is more about direction, destination, or purpose:

• Jeg skal til legen. = I am going to the doctor.
• Gaven er til deg. = The gift is for you.
• Penger til mat. = Money for food (for the purpose of buying food).

So with viktig, the natural preposition is for, not til:

• Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse. ✅
• Vennskap er viktig til min mentale helse. ❌ (unnatural)

Why is the adjective mentale and not mental?

This is about adjective agreement in Norwegian.

Basic pattern:

• Indefinite singular, no possessive/demonstrative → no -e
  • mental helse = mental health (in general)
• Definite form or with a possessive/demonstrative → add -e
  • den mentale helsen
  • min mentale helse
  • denne mentale helsen

Your phrase has a possessive before the noun (min), so the adjective takes the definite -e form:

• min mentale helse (my mental health)
• min nye bil (my new car)
• mitt lille barn (my little child)
• mine gode venner (my good friends)

So mentale here is the correct definite/possessive form.

Why is it min mentale helse and not mi mentale helse?

The noun helse can be treated as either:

• common gender (en) → en helse, helsen, min helse
• feminine (ei) → ei helse, helsa, mi helse

Both patterns are accepted in Bokmål.

In your sentence, the writer has chosen the common gender pattern, so the possessive is min:

• min mentale helse ✅ (common gender)
• mi mentale helse ✅ grammatically possible, but less common in writing; sounds more dialectal/colloquial, because it treats helse as feminine.

Most textbooks and formal writing tend to prefer the common gender form min helse, which matches your sentence.

Can I also say helsa mi instead of min mentale helse? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, but there are some differences in meaning and style.

1. Choice of words

   • min mentale helse = my mental health (very specific, a bit formal/clinical)
   • helsa mi = my health (more general, everyday)

2. Position of the possessive

   • min mentale helse → possessive before the noun (more formal/neutral)
   • helsa mi → possessive after the noun (more colloquial/natural in speech)

3. Gender form

   • helsa mi uses the feminine form of helse: ei helse → helsa, mi.

So:

• Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.
  Sounds a bit formal/clinical, focuses specifically on mental health.
• Vennskap er viktig for helsa mi.
  More colloquial/natural, but now it’s about your overall health, not only mental health.

If you want both colloquial and specifically mental, you could say:

• Vennskap er viktig for den mentale helsen min. (very natural)
• Vennskap er viktig for psyken min. (very idiomatic; psyken = your psyche)

Is the word order fixed? Could I say For min mentale helse er vennskap viktig?

Both word orders are grammatically correct:

1. Neutral order (most common):

   • Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.
     Focus: friendship is the subject; statement feels neutral.

2. Fronting the prepositional phrase:

   • For min mentale helse er vennskap viktig.
     Focus: for my mental health. This emphasizes the health aspect, like:
     • When we’re talking about my mental health, friendship is important.

Norwegian allows you to move (front) many elements for emphasis, as long as:

• The finite verb remains in second position (V2 rule):

  • For min mentale helse er vennskap viktig.
    [For min mentale helse] – er (2nd) – [vennskap] – [viktig]

So yes, your alternative is correct; it just changes what is emphasized.

Could I say Vennskap er viktig for den mentale helsen min? Is that better?

Yes, Vennskap er viktig for den mentale helsen min is very natural Norwegian, and many speakers would actually prefer something like this in everyday language.

What’s going on grammatically?

• den mentale helsen → definite noun phrase:
  • den (the)
  • mentale (definite adjective)
  • helsen (definite noun)
• min after the noun → postposed possessive

This structure:

• sounds less stiff than min mentale helse
• is very common in speech and informal writing

Comparison:

• Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.
  Correct, a bit formal/bookish.

• Vennskap er viktig for den mentale helsen min.
  Very idiomatic, feels more natural in many contexts.

You can also drop den in informal speech:

• Vennskap er viktig for mentale helsen min.
  This occurs in speech, but with an adjective it’s more standard to keep den:
  • for den mentale helsen min is the safest written form.

What’s the difference between for min mentale helse and for meg?

They are both correct, but the focus is different:

• for min mentale helse
  Focuses specifically on your mental health as an aspect of you:

  • Friendship is important for my mental health.

• for meg
  Focuses on you as a person overall:

  • Vennskap er viktig for meg. = Friendship is important to me (personally).

So:

• If you want to sound more personal and natural in conversation:
  • Vennskap er viktig for meg.
• If you want to be more precise/clinical, maybe in a text about psychology or wellbeing:
  • Vennskap er viktig for min mentale helse.

Is mental helse the most natural expression, or is psykisk helse better?

Both exist, but psykisk helse is more common and idiomatic in Norwegian when talking about mental health in a health/medical/wellbeing context.

Typical expressions:

• psykisk helse = mental health (standard phrase)
• mental helse = also understandable, but used less often; can feel more technical or influenced by English.

So a very natural version of your sentence would be:

• Vennskap er viktig for den psykiske helsen min.
  or more neutral:
• Vennskap er viktig for min psykiske helse.

Your original with mentale is still correct Norwegian; it just sounds slightly less standard than psykiske in this context.

How do you pronounce vennskap and helse?

Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål, standard Eastern Norwegian):

• vennskap: [VENN-skahp]

  • venn like English “ven” in “vent” (short e)
  • skap like “skahp” (with sk as in “skill”, a like “father”)

• helse: [HELL-seh]

  • hel like English “hell”
  • se like “seh”, short e

Rough English approximations:

• vennskap ≈ “VENN-skahp”
• helse ≈ “HELL-seh”