El cuerpo es importante para la salud.

The body is important for health.

Breakdown of El cuerpo es importante para la salud.

• ser: to be
• para: for
• importante: important
• la salud: the health
• el cuerpo: the body

Questions & Answers about El cuerpo es importante para la salud.

Why do you say el cuerpo and not just cuerpo?

Spanish usually uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) when talking about things in general.

• English: Body is important for health. (no article)
• Spanish: El cuerpo es importante para la salud.

Without el, cuerpo es importante sounds incomplete or wrong in Spanish. When you state general truths (the body, in general), you normally include the article: El agua es necesaria, La educación es importante, etc.

Could you use mi cuerpo or tu cuerpo instead of el cuerpo?

Yes, but the meaning becomes more personal and less general:

• Mi cuerpo es importante para la salud. = My body is important for health.
• Tu cuerpo es importante para la salud. = Your body is important for health.

El cuerpo es importante para la salud sounds like a general statement about the human body, not about a specific person.

Why is the verb es used instead of está?

Es comes from ser, which is used for:

• Permanent or essential characteristics
• General truths or definitions

Being importante is presented as an inherent characteristic of el cuerpo, so you use ser:

• El cuerpo es importante. ✅

Estar would suggest a temporary state, and El cuerpo está importante is not natural Spanish in this meaning.

What exactly does cuerpo mean here, and is it masculine or feminine?

In this sentence, cuerpo means the (human) body as a physical organism.

• Cuerpo is a masculine noun: el cuerpo, un cuerpo, los cuerpos.

It can have other meanings in different contexts, for example:

• el cuerpo de policía = the police force
• tener buen cuerpo = to have a good figure

But here it is simply the body.

Why is importante after es and not before cuerpo, like "important body"?

In this sentence, importante is a predicate adjective: it describes the subject via the verb ser.

Pattern: [subject] + ser + [adjective]

• El cuerpo es importante. = The body is important.

If you put importante before cuerpo, you change the structure:

• un cuerpo importante = an important body (for example, a powerful institution or a key group)

In the original sentence, we are not naming "an important body"; we are saying "the body (in general) is important," so the adjective goes after es.

Why doesn’t importante change for masculine or feminine?

Adjectives ending in -e (like importante) usually have one form for both masculine and feminine:

• El cuerpo es importante. (masculine noun)
• La mente es importante. (feminine noun)

They do change for number:

• Los cuerpos son importantes.
• Las mentes son importantes.

Can I say Los cuerpos son importantes para la salud? How does that differ?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct.

• El cuerpo es importante… sounds like a general statement about “the human body” as a concept.
• Los cuerpos son importantes… makes it plural and can suggest we’re thinking of bodies as multiple individual bodies (for example, different people’s bodies).

Both can be used generically; el cuerpo is just a bit more typical for a general truth.

Why is it para la salud and not por la salud?

Para here expresses purpose, goal, or benefit:

• Es importante para la salud. = It is important for health / in order to maintain health.

Some general patterns:

• Bueno / malo para la salud = good / bad for your health
• Importante para la salud = important for health

Por would focus on cause, motive, or reason:

• Hago ejercicio por mi salud. = I exercise because of / for the sake of my health.

So with importante, the natural choice is para la salud.

Why do you say la salud and not just salud?

As with el cuerpo, Spanish often uses a definite article with abstract nouns when talking in general:

• La salud es importante. = Health is important.
• La educación cuesta caro. = Education is expensive.

So para la salud is the natural way to say for health (in general).
Without la, para salud sounds incomplete or foreign.

Does salud mean both “health” and “cheers”?

Yes, it has both uses:

1. Health (abstract noun)

   • La salud es lo primero. = Health comes first.
   • Es malo para la salud. = It’s bad for your health.

2. Cheers! (when drinking a toast)

   • ¡Salud! = Cheers!

When it means cheers, it appears alone, without article.

Does salud here refer only to physical health, or can it include mental health too?

By default, la salud can mean overall health: physical, mental, and emotional, depending on context.

• If you specifically want to focus on mental health, you can say:
  El cuerpo es importante para la salud mental.
• For physical health:
  Es importante para la salud física.

But in many everyday contexts, la salud is understood broadly.

How can I modify this sentence to say “The body is very important for health” or “not very important for health”?

You can add adverbs before importante:

• El cuerpo es muy importante para la salud.
  = The body is very important for health.

• El cuerpo no es muy importante para la salud.
  = The body is not very important for health.

• El cuerpo es poco importante para la salud.
  = The body is of little importance for health. (sounds a bit formal or technical)

What is the basic word order of this sentence in Spanish, and can it change?

The normal order is:

[Subject] + [verb] + [adjective/complement]

• El cuerpo (subject)
• es (verb)
• importante para la salud (predicate)

You could invert parts for emphasis, but it’s less common here.
Something like Para la salud, el cuerpo es importante is possible for stylistic emphasis, but the neutral, most natural version is the original: El cuerpo es importante para la salud.