El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.

The movement of the legs improves health.

Breakdown of El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.

• la salud: the health
• de: of
• mejorar: to improve
• la pierna: the leg
• el movimiento: the move

Questions & Answers about El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.

Why does the sentence start with El movimiento and not just Movimiento?

In Spanish, when you talk about something in a general, generic way as the subject of the sentence, you normally use the definite article (el, la, los, las).

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.
  = Leg movement in general improves health.

If you said just Movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud, it would sound incomplete or ungrammatical to a native speaker. Spanish usually needs that article where English often omits it (English says “Movement of the legs improves health” without the, but Spanish wants el).

Why is it movimiento (singular) and not movimientos (plural)?

Spanish often uses the singular to talk about an activity or concept in general:

• El ejercicio mejora la salud. – Exercise improves health.
• El tabaco perjudica la salud. – Tobacco harms health.
• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud. – Leg movement improves health.

You could say Los movimientos de las piernas mejoran la salud, but that sounds more like:

• specific, repeated, or different kinds of movements
• maybe something like a list of exercises

The singular el movimiento is more abstract and general, like the idea of leg movement as an activity.

What is the role of de in de las piernas? Why not en las piernas or nothing at all?

De in this sentence links two nouns and expresses a relationship similar to of in English:

• el movimiento de las piernas
  ≈ the movement of the legs / leg movement

In Spanish, when you have two nouns together (like English leg movement), you normally use de:

• clase de español – Spanish class
• taza de café – cup of coffee
• movimiento de las piernas – leg movement

En las piernas would mean in the legs, which is different:
el movimiento en las piernas = the movement that is happening inside/within the legs.

So de is the natural choice here.

Why is it las piernas and not los piernas or la pierna?

Two things are going on: gender and number.

1. Gender

   • pierna (leg) is a feminine noun.
   • So the feminine plural article is las.
   • los piernas would be wrong because los is masculine plural.

2. Number

   • We normally talk about both legs together in a general statement like this.
   • So we use the plural: las piernas (the legs), not la pierna (the leg).

So las piernas = the legs (feminine plural), which is what you want here.

Can we say el movimiento de piernas without las? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.
• El movimiento de piernas mejora la salud.

The difference is subtle:

• de las piernas
  Slightly more concrete or specific; can sound like the movement of the legs (these legs, people’s legs in general).
• de piernas
  A bit more generic or technical, like leg movement as a type of movement.

Both are correct and natural. In everyday speech, many speakers would happily use either without feeling a big difference.

Could I instead say Mover las piernas mejora la salud? Is that more natural?

Yes, that is also correct and very natural:

• Mover las piernas mejora la salud. – Moving your legs improves health.

Here:

• Mover is the infinitive (to move / moving).
• The infinitive is acting as the subject of the sentence.

Difference in structure:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.
  Subject = a noun phrase (el movimiento).
• Mover las piernas mejora la salud.
  Subject = an infinitive verb (Mover las piernas).

Both are fine. The version with el movimiento sounds a bit more like a written, neutral, or “textbook” style; the infinitive version feels a bit more direct and verbal.

Why is it mejora and not mejoran?

The verb must agree with the grammatical subject.

• Subject: El movimiento de las piernas
  The head of this phrase is movimiento, which is singular.
• Therefore the verb is mejora (3rd person singular of mejorar).

Even though piernas is plural, it is part of a prepositional phrase (de las piernas) modifying movimiento. The prepositional phrase does not control agreement.

So correct:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.
  (singular subject → singular verb)

Incorrect:

• ✗ El movimiento de las piernas mejoran la salud.

Is mejora here a verb or a noun? How can I tell?

In Spanish, mejora can be:

• a verb form: 3rd person singular present of mejorar
• a noun: la mejora (the improvement)

In this sentence it is clearly a verb, because it:

• comes right after the subject (El movimiento de las piernas)
• is followed by a direct object (la salud)

Structure:

• El movimiento de las piernas (subject)
• mejora (verb)
• la salud (direct object)

So here, mejora = improves, not improvement.

Why does it say mejora la salud and not mejora tu salud?

Spanish often uses a general statement with la salud to mean people’s health in general or your health in a generic sense.

• mejora la salud → improves health (in general)
• mejora tu salud → improves your health (more directly personal)

Both are grammatically correct. The version with la salud sounds more neutral or general, like something you’d read in a health pamphlet or article. If you want to address the listener more personally, tu salud works well:

• Mover las piernas mejora tu salud. – Moving your legs improves your health.

Why is there an article in la salud? Can we say mejora salud?

In Spanish, abstract nouns (like salud, amor, libertad) usually take the definite article when they are used in a general sense as a subject or object:

• La salud es importante. – Health is important.
• El amor es complicado. – Love is complicated.
• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud. – Leg movement improves health.

So mejora la salud sounds natural.
Mejora salud sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Spanish.

You usually drop the article with salud after certain verbs like tener and haber:

• Tengo salud. – I have health.
• Hay salud. – There is health.

But as a direct object like here, the article la is normally used: mejora la salud.

Are there other natural ways to say the same thing in Spanish (from Spain)?

Yes, several alternatives are common and natural in Spain, for example:

• Mover las piernas es bueno para la salud.
  – Moving your legs is good for your health.

• El movimiento de las piernas es beneficioso para la salud.
  – Leg movement is beneficial for health.

• La salud mejora con el movimiento de las piernas.
  – Health improves with leg movement.

• Hacer mover las piernas mejora la salud. (less common, but possible in context)
  – Getting your legs moving improves health.

The original sentence is already perfectly natural; these are just stylistic variations.

Can I change the word order, like La salud mejora con el movimiento de las piernas? Does it mean the same?

Yes, that is correct and very natural:

• La salud mejora con el movimiento de las piernas.

This version:

• changes the subject to la salud
• uses con instead of de to express with (as a condition/cause-like idea)

Meaning-wise, it’s practically the same:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.
  Focus on movement as the thing that improves health.

• La salud mejora con el movimiento de las piernas.
  Focus on health as the thing that gets better when there is movement.

Both are fine; it’s mostly a question of emphasis and style.

How do you pronounce El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud in Spain?

A typical northern/central Spain pronunciation (Castilian) would be roughly:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud
  [el moβiˈmjento de las ˈpjernas meˈxoɾa la saˈluð]

Some notes:

• v in movimiento is pronounced like a soft b ([β]), not like English v.
• mie in movimiento is a diphthong: mo-vi-MYEN-to.
• piernas: pie sounds like pyeh (pj sound), stress on pier: PIER-nas.
• j in mejora is a strong h sound (), like the ch in German Bach.
• salud: in much of Spain, final d is a soft th sound ([ð]): sa-LUTH (with a soft th).

Stress pattern:

• el movimiento (actually on mien: mo-vi-MIEN-to)
• de las piernas
• mejora (me-JO-ra)
• la salud

No written accent marks are needed because each word follows the normal stress rules of Spanish.

Is there any difference between using this sentence in Spain and in Latin America?

Grammatically and lexically, no real difference:

• El movimiento de las piernas mejora la salud.

is perfectly normal and fully understood everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

The main difference would be pronunciation:

• In much of Spain, final d in salud is a soft th sound.
• In most of Latin America, d in salud is pronounced more like a normal d or sometimes almost like t, especially at the very end of the word.

But the structure, vocabulary, and meaning are the same in Spain and Latin America.