Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Un buen descanso es importante para la salud. - A good rest is important for your health.

In Spanish, many adjectives commonly come before the noun when they express a general, subjective quality (good, bad, big, small, etc.). Buen is one of these.

Un buen descanso – sounds natural, like “a good (proper) rest.”
Un descanso bueno – correct, but sounds more like you’re contrasting it with another rest that was bad, or you’re adding the adjective as new information: “the rest was good.”

So for a general statement like “A good rest is important…”, “un buen descanso” is the usual choice.

What is the difference between “buen” and “bueno”?

They are forms of the same adjective (“good”), but used in different positions:

Buen: used before a masculine singular noun.
- Un buen descanso
- Un buen libro
Bueno:
- Used after a masculine singular noun:
  - Un descanso bueno
  - Un libro bueno
- Or used on its own (predicate position):
  - El descanso es bueno.
  - Este libro es bueno.

So “buen” is just a shortened form (called apócope) of “bueno” used before masculine singular nouns.

Why is it “un” and not “el” in “un buen descanso”?

Spanish can use either indefinite or definite articles in general statements, depending on what you want to emphasize.

Un buen descanso es importante…
Literally: “A good rest is important…”
This sounds like English and emphasizes any instance of good rest that you might get. It’s like saying: “Getting a good rest is important…”
El buen descanso es importante…
Literally: “The good rest is important…”
This is more abstract and a bit more formal: “Good rest is important (as a concept).”

In everyday speech, “un buen descanso” is more natural here because it sounds less abstract and more like day‑to‑day advice.

Why is it “descanso” and not “siesta” or “sueño”?

These words are related but not the same:

Descanso = rest, a break, time to recharge (can be sleep or just relaxing).
Sueño = sleep (and also “sleepiness”).
- Tengo sueño. = I’m sleepy.
Siesta = an afternoon nap, traditionally after lunch in Spain.

“Un buen descanso” is broader: it could be a good night’s sleep, a proper break during the day, etc.
If you said “Una buena siesta es importante para la salud”, you’d be saying specifically that taking a nap is important for health, which is a more specific claim.

Why is it “es” and not “está” in “es importante”?

This is the classic ser vs. estar difference.

Ser is used for essential, permanent, or general characteristics.
Estar is used for temporary states, locations, and conditions.

“Es importante” = “is important” as a general truth, a permanent characteristic of the thing you’re talking about.
You’re saying: In general, a good rest is something important (for health).

“Está importante” is not idiomatic here; you normally don’t use estar with importante in this kind of general statement.

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

Para and por can both translate as “for,” but they’re used differently:

Para often expresses purpose, goal, or benefit.
- Es importante para la salud. = It’s important for (the benefit of) health.
Por often expresses cause, reason, or motive.
- Lo hago por mi salud. = I do it because of / for the sake of my health.

In this sentence, we’re talking about who benefits from a good rest (your health), so para is the correct preposition:
Un buen descanso es importante para la salud.
= A good rest is important for (in order to improve/maintain) health.

Why do we say “la salud” with “la”, when in English we say “for health,” without “the”?

Spanish often uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) with abstract or general nouns where English uses no article:

La salud = (the) health
La libertad = (the) freedom
La educación = (the) education

So:

para la salud → literally “for the health,” but idiomatically just “for health.”
para la educación → “for education.”

In general statements, English drops the article, but Spanish tends to keep it:

El tabaco es malo para la salud.
= Tobacco is bad for health.

How do we know that “descanso” is masculine and “salud” is feminine?

You mostly have to learn the gender of each noun with the word itself, but there are some patterns:

Descanso ends in -o, and most -o nouns are masculine → el descanso, un descanso.
Salud ends in -d, and many abstract nouns ending in -dad, -tad, -ud are feminine → la salud, una salud (though you rarely say “una salud”).

So we say:

un buen descanso (masculine singular)
importante para la salud (feminine singular)

Could I say “Es importante un buen descanso para la salud” instead? Is that correct?

Yes, “Es importante un buen descanso para la salud” is grammatically correct.

The difference is word order and emphasis:

Un buen descanso es importante para la salud.
Focus on “a good rest” as the subject: “A good rest is important for health.”
Es importante un buen descanso para la salud.
Slightly more focus on the idea that it is important, and then you specify what is important: “It is important, a good rest, for health.”

In everyday speech, the original version (“Un buen descanso es importante…”) is more natural and straightforward.

Can I drop “para la salud” and just say “Un buen descanso es importante”?

Yes, you can.

Un buen descanso es importante.
= A good rest is important.

This is a perfectly complete sentence. You’re just not specifying why or for what it’s important.

Adding “para la salud” gives more detail: you’re saying specifically that it’s important for health.

Could I say “Es importante descansar para la salud” instead of “Un buen descanso es importante para la salud”?

Yes, and the meaning is very close, but the structure is different:

Un buen descanso es importante para la salud.
Uses a noun phrase: “A good rest is important for health.”
Es importante descansar para la salud.
Uses an infinitive: “It’s important to rest for health.”

Both sound natural. The first focuses slightly more on the quality of the rest (a good rest), while the second focuses more on the action (resting).

Why is there no accent on “buen” or “salud”?

Spanish accents are used to show where the stress falls when it doesn’t follow the normal rules.

Buen: one syllable (buen). Single-syllable words almost never carry a written accent (there are a few exceptions like tú vs tu, but buen is not one of them).
Salud: ends in a consonant (not n or s). By default, stress is on the last syllable: sa-lud. That matches how it’s pronounced, so no accent is needed.

So both buen and salud follow the regular stress rules and do not need written accents.

Is the word order in Spanish always the same as in English here?

In this sentence, the word order is very close:

Un buen descanso (A good rest)
es importante (is important)
para la salud (for health)

Spanish does allow some flexibility, but certain elements are fairly fixed here:

es importante normally stays together.
para la salud stays as a prepositional phrase at the end or near the end.

You could move things slightly for emphasis (like “Es importante para la salud un buen descanso”), but that’s less neutral and more marked. The original order is the most natural, standard one.