Isto é importante.

Isto is a demonstrative pronoun. It is used for this when you are referring to something close to the speaker or to something that has not yet been specified clearly.

In practice, in Brazilian Portuguese, isto often sounds a bit more formal or written. In everyday speech, Brazilians very often use isso instead.

Examples:

• Isto é importante.
• Isso é importante.

Both can be natural, but isso is usually more common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

Traditionally:

• isto = this
• isso = that

More specifically:

• isto refers to something near the speaker, or something about to be mentioned
• isso refers to something near the listener, or something already mentioned

But in Brazilian Portuguese, this distinction is often weaker in daily speech, and isso is commonly used where a textbook might expect isto.

So:

• Isto é importante. = grammatically correct
• Isso é importante. = also very common, especially in conversation

É is the 3rd person singular form of the verb ser in the present tense: is.

The accent is important because it distinguishes é from e:

• é = is
• e = and

So:

• Isto é importante. = correct
• Isto e importante. = incorrect, because that would look like This and important

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

EES-too eh eem-por-TAHN-chee

A few notes:

• Isto: the i sounds like ee
• é: sounds like eh
• importante: in Brazilian Portuguese, the final te often sounds like chee in many regions

A more careful breakdown:

• is-to
• é
• im-por-tan-te

Also, in natural speech, isto é may flow together smoothly.

Because isto itself already plays the role of the subject.

In English, you might say:

• This is important.
• It is important.

In Portuguese, isto means this, so the sentence already has a subject:

• Isto = subject
• é = verb
• importante = adjective

You do not need an extra word like it.

Some Portuguese adjectives change form for gender, but importante is an adjective with one form only for both masculine and feminine singular.

So you get:

• Isto é importante.
• A ideia é importante.
• O assunto é importante.

But it does change for plural:

• Isto é importante. = singular
• Estas coisas são importantes. = plural

So:

• singular: importante
• plural: importantes

Portuguese has two common verbs meaning to be: ser and estar.

Here, ser is used because importante describes an essential quality or a more general characteristic:

• Isto é importante. = This is important.

Using estar would sound unusual here unless you were expressing a more temporary or situational idea, and even then it is not the normal choice with importante.

So for this sentence, ser is the standard and natural verb.

Yes. In fact, in spoken Brazilian Portuguese, Isso é importante is often more common.

The traditional grammar distinction still exists, but many Brazilians use isso very broadly in conversation.

So:

• Isto é importante. = correct, a bit more formal/bookish in many contexts
• Isso é importante. = very common and natural in speech

The normal word order is:

Isto + é + importante

This is the most natural and neutral order.

You might sometimes see different structures for emphasis, but they are less common or sound more literary:

• Importante é isto.
• É importante isto.

For a learner, the standard form to use is:

• Isto é importante.

Yes, absolutely.

Isto can point to:

• a thing
• a situation
• an action
• an idea
• something someone is about to say

Examples:

• Isto é importante: precisamos estudar mais.
• Isto é importante para mim.

So isto does not have to mean a literal object you can touch.

The sentence itself is neutral and correct in any context. However, isto can sound a little more formal, careful, or written in Brazilian Portuguese.

In everyday spoken Brazilian Portuguese, many people would more naturally say:

• Isso é importante.

So:

• Isto é importante. = correct, slightly more formal/book-like
• Isso é importante. = very common in everyday speech

Yes, both words are still there, but in natural speech they connect smoothly.

You should pronounce:

• isto
• é

without making a big pause:

• Isto é importante.

Portuguese often links words together rhythmically, so it may sound more fluid than isolated word-by-word pronunciation.

Yes, depending on what you want to refer to.

Examples:

• Isso é importante. = That is important.
• Aquilo é importante. = That over there / that thing is important.
• O trabalho é importante. = The work is important.
• A decisão é importante. = The decision is important.

So the structure stays the same:

• [subject] + é + importante

What changes is the subject you are talking about.