Importante per

[Luc4]

Important to v. important for

Hi. Which of these two forms is correct? I made a search with google and it seems both means the same. Are they equivalent?
Thanks.

 

[Elisa68]

Non sono una nativa, ma mi sembrano corrette entrambe.

 

[shamblesuk]

There are some subtle differences:

You are important to me
You are important for me

It's important for me to see him
It's important to me to see him

 

[lsp]

It depends on the rest of the sentence, Luc4. They can both be correct but possibly not interchangeable.

 

[Silvia]

Shamblesuk, can you explain why "you're important for me" is wrong?

 

[ElaineG]

Shamblesuk, can you explain why "you're important for me" is wrong?

Lo provo!

"important to me" (usually) conveys a personal emotional significance -- "My house is important to me." "Because I have had my cat since I was a little girl, she is very important to me." "Doing well in school is important to me."

"important for me" conveys an instrumental quality (something is important because it leads to something else). "It is important for me to do well in school so that I can get a good job." "It is important for me to learn Italian because my relatives don't speak English."

 

[uinni]

Lo provo!

"important to me" (usually) conveys a personal emotional significance -- "My house is important to me." "Because I have had my cat since I was a little girl, she is very important to me." "Doing well in school is important to me."

"important for me" conveys an instrumental quality (something is important because it leads to something else). "It is important for me to do well in school so that I can get a good job." "It is important for me to learn Italian because my relatives don't speak English."

So, I guess we can summarize:

"(s.t/s.b is/are important to me" -> "q.cs/q.cn/... è/sono importante/i per me"
"important for me" -> è importante che io" + subjunctive.

Uinni

 

[shamblesuk]

Hai proprio ragione.

So, I guess we can summarize:

"(s.t/s.b is/are important to me" -> "q.cs/q.cn/... è/sono importante/i per me"
"important for me" -> è importante che io" + subjunctive.

Uinni

 

[Luc4]

It depends on the rest of the sentence, Luc4. They can both be correct but possibly not interchangeable.

Sorry for the lateness of the answer. I have no context in this case. The problem is that everytime I have to use important I have this doubt, and I was not able to understand the difference. So, I thought it was better to investigate some further. Thenks for the replies to anyone.

 

[carrickp]

Lo provo!

"important to me" (usually) conveys a personal emotional significance -- "My house is important to me." "Because I have had my cat since I was a little girl, she is very important to me." "Doing well in school is important to me."

"important for me" conveys an instrumental quality (something is important because it leads to something else). "It is important for me to do well in school so that I can get a good job." "It is important for me to learn Italian because my relatives don't speak English."

Well said!

 

[Luc4]

Originally Posted by ElaineG
Lo provo!

"important to me" (usually) conveys a personal emotional significance -- "My house is important to me." "Because I have had my cat since I was a little girl, she is very important to me." "Doing well in school is important to me."

"important for me" conveys an instrumental quality (something is important because it leads to something else). "It is important for me to do well in school so that I can get a good job." "It is important for me to learn Italian because my relatives don't speak English."

Well said!

Only another question then. If this is correct, then it wouldn't be impossible to say "important for me". For example, somebody could be important for me because this person helps me in my job (it's an instrument to do something else). In this case I'm not referring to this person in a sense of emational feelings. Thanks for this generalization.

 

[shamblesuk]

Purtroppo no, sarebbe 'he is important to me' di nuovo.

'important for me' significa solamente e sempre 'è importante che io....'

 

[Luc4]

Ok, great, thanks. And if I wanted to say something like "Sei importante per me perchè...", should I say "you're important to me cause..."?

 

[altro]

Esiste una differenza nell'uso dell'aggettivo 'important' seguito da 'for' o 'to'?

Se volessi scrivere "Il denaro è importante per le persone" potrei tradurre "Money is important to people"?

E se volessi dire "L'acqua è una risorsa importante per le persone" potrei dire "Water is an important resource FOR people"?

 

[TimLA]

Esiste una differenza nell'uso dell'aggettivo 'important' seguito da 'for' o 'to'?
Se volessi scrivere "Il denaro è importante per le persone" potrei tradurre "Money is important to people"?
E se volessi dire "L'acqua è una risorsa importante per le persone" potrei dire "Water is an important resource FOR people"?

Che domanda interessante...non ce l'ho mai pensato.
Sì, c'è una differenza sottile.
Ti do esempi:

Money is important to people.
Money is important for people who want to travel.

Water is an important resource to a city.
Water is an important resource for a city that wants to grow.

Listening to music is important to me.
Listening to music is important for me to relax.

L'uso di "to" dà un concetto "generale" e non c'è bisogno di qualcosa dopo la frase "to X".

L'uso di "for" nelle stesse frase "chiede" qualcosa dopo il "for".

In molti casi puoi usare "to" e "for" con lo stesso significato.
Vediamo che dicono gli altri.

Interessante, grazie per la domanda!

 

[baldpate]

Credo che "X is important to Y" voglia dire "Y believes that X is important" ("Y ritenga che X sia importante"). Ad esempio "Money is important to many people" o "To some people, the only important thing is love".

"X is important for Z" si usa sopprattutto quando Z e' il motivo per cui X sia importante. Ad esempio "Full employment is important for social stability" o "A knowledge of mathematics is important for a proper understanding of modern physics".

Spesso si puo' usare le due forme indifferentemente, in particolare quando, nella forma "X is important for Z", il "Z" e' una persona invece di un motivo; si tratta di una specie di abbreviazione. Usando il tuo esempio...
"Water is an important resource for people" = "Water is an important resource for the welfare of people".

 

[altro]

Interessante, grazie per la domanda!

Grazie, e grazie mille per la risposta.

Spesso si puo' usare le due forme indifferentemente, in particolare quando, nella forma "X is important for Z", il "Z" e' una persona invece di un motivo; si tratta di una specie di abbreviazione. Usando il tuo esempio...
"Water is an important resource for people" = "Water is an important resource for the welfare of people".

Quindi, come immaginavo, c'è davvero questa sottile differenza di significato. Grazie le tue spiegazioni sono sempre utilissime.

 

[Rose22]

Talking about this let me see if I understood:
English is important for my professional growth.
He is very important to my life.
Are the sentences right?

 

[Uccina]

Mi confondo sempre sull'utilizzo corretto di questa forma:

ogni richiesta è importante per noi = each/any single request is important for/to us??

Grazie mille.