El ocio en familia es importante para nuestra salud mental.

Family leisure time is important for our mental health.

Breakdown of El ocio en familia es importante para nuestra salud mental.

• ser: to be
• en: in
• la familia: the family
• para: for
• importante: important
• nuestro: our
• la salud: the health
• mental: mental
• el ocio: the leisure

Questions & Answers about El ocio en familia es importante para nuestra salud mental.

Why does the sentence say El ocio instead of just Ocio?

In Spanish, when you talk about a concept in general, you almost always use the definite article (el, la, los, las).

• El ocio es importante. = Leisure (in general) is important.
• La paciencia es una virtud. = Patience is a virtue.

Saying Ocio en familia es importante sounds wrong or at best very odd. The article el tells us we’re talking about leisure as a general idea, not about a specific moment of leisure.

What exactly does ocio mean? Is it the same as tiempo libre?

Ocio means leisure, free time used for rest or enjoyment.

• ocio = leisure time, often with a nuance of rest, recreation, non-work activities.
• tiempo libre = free time (more literal and very common in everyday speech).

In Latin America, you’ll hear both:

• El ocio en familia es importante… (a bit more formal / neutral).
• Pasar tiempo libre en familia es importante… (very common and very natural).

They overlap a lot, but ocio can sometimes sound more formal or appear in written language, while tiempo libre feels more colloquial.

What does en familia mean here? Why not con la familia?

En familia is a common fixed expression meaning “as a family / in a family setting / with the family members together.”

Examples:

• Comer en familia = to eat together as a family.
• Ver películas en familia = to watch movies together as a family.

You could say con la familia (with the family), and in this sentence it would be understood and not wrong:

• El ocio con la familia es importante…

However:

• en familia focuses on the family environment or setting (doing something as a family unit).
• con la familia is more literally “with the family”, sometimes a bit more concrete.

In practice, here en familia sounds more natural and idiomatic.

Why is it es importante and not está importante?

With adjectives like importante, Spanish almost always uses ser, not estar, because it describes a general or inherent characteristic, not a temporary state.

• El ocio en familia es importante.
  → It is (by nature / in general) important.

Using estar with importante (está importante) is normally incorrect or at least very strange, except in rare, playful uses in some dialects. As a learner, always use:

• ser + importante → es importante, son importantes.

Why do we say para nuestra salud mental and not por nuestra salud mental?

Para is used to express purpose, benefit, or destination:

• Es bueno para la salud. = It’s good for your health (it benefits your health).
• Hago ejercicio para sentirme mejor. = I exercise in order to feel better.

In es importante para nuestra salud mental, mental health is the beneficiary of family leisure. It’s important for (for the sake of) our mental health.

Por would suggest cause or reason, e.g.:

• Lo hago por mi salud mental. = I do it because of my mental health / for the sake of my mental health.

Here, para is the natural choice.

Why is it nuestra salud mental and not nuestro salud mental?

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su, nuestro/a, vuestro/a, su) must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify, not with the people who “own” the thing.

• salud is feminine singular, so you need nuestra (feminine singular):
  • nuestra salud mental ✅

Compare:

• nuestro cuerpo (cuerpo = masculine singular)
• nuestra mente (mente = feminine singular)
• nuestros cuerpos (masculine plural)
• nuestras mentes (feminine plural)

So nuestro salud mental is incorrect, because salud is feminine.

Why is salud mental singular? Could you say saludes mentales?

In normal usage, salud behaves like an uncountable abstract noun, just like “health” in English.

• la salud = health (in general)
• la salud mental = mental health

You almost never say saludes in everyday language. It exists in very specific or technical contexts and is not used here.

So:

• nuestra salud mental = our mental health ✅
• nuestras saludes mentales ❌ (grammatically possible but sounds extremely weird and unnatural).

Could the sentence be El ocio familiar es importante para nuestra salud mental? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, that sentence is correct, and the meaning is very close.

• El ocio en familia = leisure as a family / together as a family.
• El ocio familiar = family leisure, leisure that is related to the family.

Ocio familiar sounds a bit more like a label or category (e.g., in an article about types of leisure), while ocio en familia sounds more like what you actually do together as a family. In many contexts, they’re practically interchangeable, but en familia tends to feel a bit more natural and vivid.

Can I change the word order, like Es importante el ocio en familia para nuestra salud mental?

Yes, Spanish allows some flexibility in word order. These are all grammatical:

1. El ocio en familia es importante para nuestra salud mental.
   → Neutral, straightforward statement.

2. Es importante el ocio en familia para nuestra salud mental.
   → Slight emphasis on es importante; still natural.

3. Para nuestra salud mental, el ocio en familia es importante.
   → Emphasizes the effect on mental health.

The first version is the most neutral and typical in writing. The others are used mainly for emphasis, rhythm, or style.

Could we drop nuestra and just say para la salud mental?

Yes, you can say:

• El ocio en familia es importante para la salud mental.

That means “Leisure time with family is important for mental health” in general, not specifically ours.

Difference:

• para nuestra salud mental → specifically our mental health (ours as a group).
• para la salud mental → mental health as a general concept (anyone’s).

Both are correct; it’s just a difference in focus.

Is ocio commonly used in Latin America, or is it more from Spain?

Ocio is understood everywhere in the Spanish‑speaking world, including Latin America, and it appears a lot in written language, education, health campaigns, etc.

However, in everyday casual speech in many Latin American countries, people might more often say:

• tiempo libre
• rato libre
• tiempo de descanso
• actividades recreativas

So:

• In a written sentence like El ocio en familia es importante…, ocio sounds natural and correct.
• In very informal conversation, you’d also hear things like Pasar tiempo libre en familia es importante….

How do you pronounce ocio and en familia in Latin American Spanish?

Approximate pronunciation:

• ocio → [ˈo.sjo]

  • Two syllables: o-cio
  • The c before i is pronounced like s.
  • Sounds a bit like “OH-syo”.

• en familia → [em faˈmi.lja]

  • en often sounds close to “em” because of nasal assimilation.
  • familia: stress on mi → fa-MI-lia.
  • lia at the end sounds like “lya”.

Putting it together smoothly:

• El ocio en familia es importante para nuestra salud mental. → [el ˈo.sjo em faˈmi.lja es im.poɾˈtan.te ˈpa.ɾa ˈnwes.tɾa saˈluð menˈtal]
  (In most of Latin America, the final d in salud is often very soft or almost dropped: sa-lú.)

Could I make it plural, like Los ocios en familia son importantes?

Grammatically, los ocios is possible, but in normal, everyday Spanish it sounds unnatural. The noun ocio is usually used in a general, uncountable sense, like “leisure” in English.

So you normally say:

• El ocio en familia es importante… ✅

If you want a plural idea, you’d use another structure, for example:

• Las actividades de ocio en familia son importantes…
  = Leisure activities with the family are important.

Here, actividades is plural, not ocios.