Learn Hardcore Russian: Для меня здоровье важнее, чем деньги. - For me, health is more important than money.

The phrase для меня adds a personal, subjective nuance: it’s my opinion or priority. Without для меня, it would sound more like a general statement or a universal truth: Здоровье важнее, чем деньги. – “Health is more important than money (in general).”

Why is it для меня and not для я? What case is меня?

Для always takes the genitive case.

The pronoun я (I) in the genitive is меня.
So для меня literally is “for of‑me,” which in correct English is just “for me.”

Forms of я:

Nominative (subject): я – “I”
Genitive: меня – used after для, у, etc.
Accusative: меня – same form as genitive

So we say:

для меня – for me
у меня есть – I have (literally: “at me there is”)

What part of speech is здоровье, and what form is it in here?

Здоровье is a noun, not an adjective. It means “health” as a general concept.

In this sentence:

здоровье is in the nominative singular (the basic dictionary form).
Gender: neuter.

It is the subject of the sentence:

Здоровье (что?) важнее… – “Health is more important…”

What is важнее exactly? How is it formed?

Важнее is the comparative form of the adjective важный (“important”).

Russian comparatives are often formed by adding -ее (or -ей) to the stem:

важный → важнее – more important
красивый → красивее – more beautiful
дешёвый → дешевле – cheaper (irregular stem change)

So:

здоровье важно – “health is important”
здоровье важнее – “health is more important”

Why is there no word for “is” in Russian, like “есть”? Why don’t we say здоровье есть важнее?

In Russian, the verb “to be” in the present tense is usually omitted in such sentences.

English: “Health is more important than money.”
Russian: Здоровье важнее, чем деньги. (no есть)

Using есть here ( здоровье есть важнее, чем деньги ) is ungrammatical in standard Russian. Present‑tense есть is normally used for existence/possession, not in simple “X is Y” sentences:

У меня есть деньги. – “I have money.” (literally: “At me there is money.”)

What is the role of чем here? Is it always used in comparisons?

Чем introduces the thing you are comparing to; it corresponds to English “than” in this type of sentence:

здоровье важнее, чем деньги – “health is more important than money”
быстрее, чем вчера – “faster than yesterday”

So the structure is:

X + comparative + чем + Y

However, with some adjectives, Russian can drop чем and use a different case (see the next question).

Can I say здоровье важнее денег instead of …важнее, чем деньги? Is there a difference?

Yes, здоровье важнее денег is also correct and very natural.

There are two common patterns for comparisons:

Comparative + чем + nominative:
- здоровье важнее, чем деньги
Comparative + genitive without чем:
- здоровье важнее денег

Both mean the same in this sentence: “Health is more important than money.”

Nuance:

In modern spoken Russian, both forms feel normal.
Some speakers feel the genitive without чем (важнее денег) is a bit more compact, and sometimes a little more literary or formal, but in everyday speech you will hear both.

Why is деньги in plural? Can I say it in singular?

Деньги in Russian is normally used only in the plural and means “money” as an uncountable mass, like English “money”.

Nominative plural: деньги – money
Genitive plural: денег – of money, than money (in pattern 2 above)

The singular form деньга exists but is rare and marked. It’s used:

in some set expressions (e.g. ни копейки, ни деньга in older style),
or to talk about a single coin/piece of money in a very specific or stylistic context.

So in this sentence, you should use деньги, not singular.

Is the word order Для меня здоровье важнее, чем деньги fixed? Can I move words around?

Word order in Russian is fairly flexible; you can move elements to change the emphasis.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Для меня здоровье важнее, чем деньги.
Neutral: “For me, health is more important than money.”
Mild emphasis on “for me” as a starting point.
Здоровье для меня важнее, чем деньги.
Puts a bit more focus on здоровье at the start: “Health, for me, is more important than money.”
Для меня важнее здоровье, чем деньги.
Emphasis on the contrast: “For me, it’s health that is more important, not money.”

The basic meaning remains the same; you mainly shift what is highlighted.

Could I leave out для меня and still have a natural sentence?

Yes.

Здоровье важнее, чем деньги.

This is a very common and natural sentence, and it sounds like a more general statement: “Health is more important than money.”

Adding для меня makes it clearly personal, like saying “As far as I’m concerned…” or “In my view…”.

What is the difference between важнее and более важно? Can I say здоровье более важно, чем деньги?

You can say:

Здоровье более важно, чем деньги.

It is grammatically correct and means the same: “Health is more important than money.”

Difference:

важнее – synthetic comparative, very common, sounds natural and slightly more colloquial/neutral.
более важно – analytic comparative (“more important”), sometimes a bit more formal or explicit.

In everyday speech, важнее is more frequent in this exact sentence, but более важно is not wrong.

How do you pronounce здоровье важнее, чем деньги?

Roughly in English-based transcription:

здоровье – [zda-ROV-ye]
- Stress on РО: здоровье.
важнее – [vazh-NYE-ye]
- Stress on НЕ: важне́е.
чем – [chyem] (like “chem” with a soft “ch” and palatalized “m”)
деньги – [DYEN-gi]
- Stress on ДЕ: де́ньги.
- The нь is soft (like the “ny” in “canyon”).

Altogether (with approximate stress marking):

для меня́ здоро́вье важне́е, чем де́ньги.

Is there another natural way to express the same idea in Russian?

Yes, many. A few very natural variants:

Я считаю, что здоровье важнее денег.
“I think that health is more important than money.”
Для меня самое главное — здоровье, а не деньги.
“For me, the most important thing is health, not money.”
Я больше ценю здоровье, чем деньги.
“I value health more than money.”

All of them communicate essentially the same preference.