Breakdown of A pausa é importante para a saúde.
Questions & Answers about A pausa é importante para a saúde.
In Portuguese, we often use the definite article (o, a, os, as) when talking about things in a general way.
- A pausa é importante para a saúde.
Literally: The pause is important for (the) health.
Meaning: Taking a break is important for your/one’s health.
So a pausa here does not refer to one specific pause; it means pausing / taking breaks in general. Portuguese normally uses the article in these generic statements, where English would drop the.
You could say:
- Pausa é importante para a saúde.
…but this sounds odd or incomplete in standard Portuguese. The version with a is the natural one.
Every noun in Portuguese has a grammatical gender: masculine (o) or feminine (a).
- pausa is a feminine noun → a pausa
A quick rule of thumb (with exceptions):
- Nouns ending in -a are often feminine:
a casa, a mesa, a pausa - Nouns ending in -o are often masculine:
o carro, o livro, o intervalo
There are exceptions like o problema, o dia, but pausa follows the regular pattern, so it is feminine.
In this sentence, pausa is closest to a break or a short pause.
Nuances compared with similar words:
- pausa – a pause, a stop in an activity; can be short, more generic.
- Fiz uma pausa no trabalho. – I took a break from work.
- intervalo – often a scheduled break (school break, TV commercial break, break in a show).
- No intervalo da aula, conversamos.
- descanso – rest, with more focus on recovering energy.
- O descanso é fundamental. – Rest is essential.
In A pausa é importante para a saúde, it’s talking about taking breaks / pausing from activity, not necessarily long rest, but stepping away for your health.
Portuguese has two verbs for to be:
- ser (here: é) → for permanent, general, characteristic qualities.
- estar (here: está) → for temporary states or conditions.
In A pausa é importante para a saúde:
- The idea is that a pause is (in general) important for health – this is a general truth, an inherent characteristic.
- So we use ser → é importante.
Using está importante would sound wrong here; it would suggest a temporary or changing state, which does not fit the intended meaning.
para is used because it shows benefit / purpose / direction towards something:
- para a saúde ≈ for (the) health / for your health / beneficial to health
Rough guidelines:
- para → purpose, goal, benefit, destination
- Bom para a saúde. – Good for your health.
- por → cause, reason, means, duration
- Fiz isso por saúde. – I did this for health reasons / because of my health.
- a (alone) is not used here in the sense of for.
So:
- A pausa é importante para a saúde. ✅
- A pausa é importante por a saúde. ❌
- A pausa é importante à saúde.
– This is technically possible in very formal/literary language, but in everyday Brazilian Portuguese para a saúde is the natural, standard choice.
Because saúde is being treated as a specific, general concept, and Portuguese usually uses the definite article in that case:
- saúde is feminine → a saúde
→ para a saúde (for the health / for one’s health)
Dropping the article:
- para saúde sounds incomplete or non‑native in this kind of everyday sentence.
- You may see article-less uses of saúde in fixed expressions or technical language (e.g. headings: Ministério da Saúde, Plano de Saúde), but in a normal sentence like this, para a saúde is the natural form.
In para a saúde, there are two separate elements:
- para – preposition (for, to)
- a – definite article, feminine, singular (the)
So:
- para + a + saúde → para a saúde
In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, para a is very often pronounced and written as pra:
- A pausa é importante pra saúde. – very common and natural in speech and informal writing.
So you have:
- Formal/neutral writing: para a saúde
- Informal speech/writing: pra saúde
Both are correct in Brazil; the difference is mainly formality and style.
Approximate Brazilian pronunciation (general southeastern accent):
- A pausa é importante para a saúde.
→ ah POW-zah eh im-por-TAN-chee pah-rah ah sah-OO-jee
More phonetic (simplified IPA):
- /a ˈpaw.zɐ ɛ ĩpoɾˈtɐ̃.tʃi ˈpa.ɾa a saˈu.dʒi/
Notes:
- pau in pausa sounds like English pow.
- s between vowels (pausa) sounds like z.
- Final -te in importante is often [tʃi] in Brazil (like chee).
- saúde has the stress on -ú-: sa-Ú-de → sah-OO-jee.
- The accent on é in é marks an open eh sound.
You can make the idea of taking a break more explicit by using a verb:
- Fazer uma pausa é importante para a sua saúde.
Literally: To make a pause is important for your health.
Parts:
- Fazer – to do / to make
- uma pausa – a break / a pause
- é importante – is important
- para a sua saúde – for your health
You can also omit sua; it is often understood from context:
- Fazer uma pausa é importante para a saúde.
– Still naturally understood as for your health / for one’s health.
In theory, you can move elements around, but not all orders are equally natural.
A pausa é importante para a saúde. ✅
– Very natural and standard.É importante a pausa para a saúde.
– Grammatically possible, but sounds unnatural or heavy in everyday Brazilian Portuguese. This word order might show up in very formal or poetic contexts, or more often with a longer clause as the subject, e.g.:- É importante fazer uma pausa para a saúde. ✅ (very common)
So, for normal speech and writing, stick with:
- A pausa é importante para a saúde.
or - Fazer uma pausa é importante para a saúde.