Es importante ser honesto con mi familia.

to be

Breakdown of Es importante ser honesto con mi familia.

• con: with
• mi: my
• la familia: the family

Questions & Answers about Es importante ser honesto con mi familia.

Why is ser in the infinitive form here and not soy, eres, or somos?

After impersonal expressions like Es importante, Spanish usually uses an infinitive to talk about actions in general:

• Es importante ser honesto… = It’s important to be honest… (in general / for me / for people)
• English often uses to + verb or -ing here: to be honest / being honest.

If you conjugate ser (soy, eres, somos), you would be making a full clause and normally need que and the subjunctive:

• Es importante que yo sea honesto… = It’s important that I be/am honest…

So:

• Es importante + infinitive → general idea.
• Es importante que + subjunctive → more clearly about a specific person.

---

Why do we use ser and not estar in this sentence?

Here ser is used because:

1. We’re talking about a characteristic / quality (being an honest person), not a temporary state.

   • ser honesto = to be an honest (truthful) kind of person.
   • estar honesto is not natural Spanish.

2. In the pattern Es + adjetivo + infinitivo, Spanish always uses ser:

   • Es difícil ser paciente.
   • Es necesario ser puntual.

So Es importante ser honesto… follows this fixed, very common structure.

---

Why is it honesto and not if I am a woman saying this?