A liberdade é importante.

to be

Breakdown of A liberdade é importante.

• importante: important
• o: the
• a liberdade: freedom

Questions & Answers about A liberdade é importante.

Why is there an A at the beginning? In English we usually just say Freedom is important, not The freedom is important.

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article with abstract nouns, especially when talking about something in a general sense.

So:

• A liberdade é importante. = Freedom is important.

Even though a literally means the, you should not translate word by word here. In this sentence, a liberdade is the natural Portuguese way to talk about the concept of freedom in general.

Why is it é and not está?

Portuguese has two main verbs for to be: ser and estar.

Here, é is from ser, and it is used because importante is presented as a general, essential quality of freedom.

• A liberdade é importante. = freedom is important by nature / in general

If you used está, it would suggest a temporary state or a context-dependent situation, which sounds less natural here.

• A liberdade está importante is not the normal way to express this idea.

So for general truths, definitions, and inherent characteristics, ser is the correct choice.

What form is é?