Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): É importante valorizar a amizade.

É importante literally means “is important”, and the “it” (as in “it is important”) is not expressed in Portuguese.
Portuguese often omits this dummy “it” subject that English needs. So:
- É importante valorizar a amizade.
  ≈ It is important to value friendship.

So there’s no subject missing; Portuguese simply doesn’t need an explicit “it” here.

Why is it é importante and not está importante?

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

Ser (é) is used for permanent, essential, or general characteristics, rules, and opinions.
Estar (está) is used for temporary states or conditions.

In É importante valorizar a amizade:

We’re expressing a general, timeless statement: valuing friendship in general is important.
That’s why ser is used: é importante, not está importante.

Está importante would sound odd here; it would suggest a temporary, changeable state, which doesn’t fit.

Why is valorizar in the infinitive and not something like valorizamos or valorizarmos?

The structure É importante + infinitive is the normal way to say “It is important to [do something]”.

valorizar is the infinitive, meaning “to value”.
This construction is impersonal; it doesn’t specify who is doing the action:
- É importante valorizar a amizade.
  ≈ It is important to value friendship (in general / people should value friendship).

If you want to specify who should value friendship, you can change the structure:

É importante valorizarmos a amizade.
– It is important that we value friendship.
(Uses the personal infinitive, valorizarmos, which includes “we”.)
É importante que valorizemos a amizade.
– It is important that we value friendship.
(Uses the subjunctive, valorizemos.)

But the original sentence is correct and perfectly natural as a general statement.

Could you say É importante valorizarmos a amizade instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, É importante valorizarmos a amizade is also correct, but the meaning is a bit more specific:

É importante valorizar a amizade.
– General, impersonal: It is important to value friendship (in general; people should value it).
É importante valorizarmos a amizade.
– More specific: It is important that *we value friendship.*

The second sentence:

Uses the personal infinitive (valorizarmos) that carries a subject: nós (we).
Emphasises our responsibility in valuing friendship, not just “people in general”.

Both are grammatically correct; the original just keeps it more general.

Why is it a amizade and not just amizade? Could I say É importante valorizar amizade?

In Portuguese, abstract nouns like amizade (friendship), amor (love), paz (peace) often take the definite article when we talk about them in general:

a amizade = friendship (as a general concept)
É importante valorizar a amizade.
– It is important to value friendship.

Saying É importante valorizar amizade (without the article) is possible, but:

It sounds less natural in European Portuguese.
Without the article, it can feel a bit bare or stylistically off in this context.

So, in most cases, for general ideas, prefer:

a amizade (friendship)
o amor (love)
a honestidade (honesty)

as in:

É importante valorizar a honestidade.
O amor é fundamental.

What exactly does valorizar mean here? Is it just “to value”?

Valorizar has a few related meanings, depending on context:

To value / to appreciate / to give importance to
- This is the meaning in the sentence:
  - É importante valorizar a amizade.
    → It is important to value/appreciate friendship.
To increase the value of something (often financial or symbolic)
- A notícia valorizou as ações da empresa.
  – The news increased the company’s stock value.
Valorizar-se (reflexive) can mean:
- To value yourself, to appreciate your own worth:
  - É importante a pessoa valorizar-se.
- Or to increase in value:
  - A casa valorizou-se muito. – The house went up a lot in value.

In your sentence, it’s clearly moral/affective value: to treat friendship as something important, to appreciate it.

Could I also say dar valor à amizade instead of valorizar a amizade?

Yes, you can. Both are natural in European Portuguese, with a slightly different flavour:

valorizar a amizade
– A bit more compact and neutral, commonly used in formal and informal speech.
dar valor à amizade
– Slightly more colloquial and expressive, literally “to give value to friendship”.

Examples:

É importante valorizar a amizade.
É importante dar valor à amizade.

In most contexts, they can be used interchangeably; both sound natural.

Why is it a amizade and not o amizade? How do I know the gender?

Amizade is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine article a:

a amizade – the friendship
uma amizade – a friendship

Clues to gender:

Many nouns ending in -dade are feminine:
- a amizade (friendship)
- a cidade (city)
- a liberdade (freedom)
- a vontade (will/wish)

So:

a amizade (not o amizade)
This is why you also say:
- É importante valorizar a amizade.

Can I change the word order to Valorizar a amizade é importante?

Yes, Valorizar a amizade é importante is correct and natural.

É importante valorizar a amizade.
– Very common structure; starts from the idea “It is important…”.
Valorizar a amizade é importante.
– Emphasises the action: Valuing friendship is important.

Both are fine in European Portuguese. The meaning is essentially the same; the difference is just in which part you highlight first.

How do you pronounce É importante valorizar a amizade in European Portuguese?

Here’s an approximate IPA transcription for European Portuguese:

É importante valorizar a amizade
/ɛ‿ĩpuɾˈtɐ̃tɨ vɐluɾiˈzaɾ ɐ ɐmiˈzað(ɨ)/

Some notes:

É – /ɛ/ like “e” in bet.
importante – stress on -tan-: /ĩpuɾˈtɐ̃tɨ/
- Final -e is very reduced: /ɨ/, almost like a very quick, neutral vowel.
valorizar – stress on -zar: /vɐluɾiˈzaɾ/
a amizade –
- a is /ɐ/ (a relaxed, central “uh” sound).
- amizade is /ɐmiˈzaðɨ/ in careful speech; final -de often sounds like a soft -ð(ɨ) (like the th in this, followed by a very short vowel).

Connected, it flows more like:

É importante → /ɛ‿ĩpuɾˈtɐ̃tɨ/ (linking between é and importante)
a amizade → /ɐ‿ɐmiˈzaðɨ/, with the two a’s almost merging.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would Brazilians say it the same way?

É importante valorizar a amizade. is neutral in tone:

Appropriate in spoken and written Portuguese.
Can be used in everyday conversation, in a school essay, in a speech, etc.

Brazilian Portuguese:

Brazilians would also say É importante valorizar a amizade.; the grammar and vocabulary are the same.
The main difference is pronunciation, not structure.
Brazilians might also commonly say:
- É importante dar valor à amizade.
- But that is also used in Portugal.

So the sentence works well in both European and Brazilian Portuguese.