Important TO Me Or Important FOR Me? Here’s The Correct Version

Sometimes prepositions are placed after words like “important” to slightly alter the meaning and change how you use them in sentences. So, let’s look at the differences between important to or for and when you might use either one in a sentence.

What Is The Difference Between Important TO And Important FOR?

Important to should be used when talking about something personal to you (or somebody else). Important for should be used when talking about something valuable and needed to achieve something else. You would use “important to” in the context mostly involving other people, while “important for” is generally used for objects and events. “Important to” is a subjective phrase, while “important for” is objective.

8 Examples Of How To Use Important TO In A Sentence

The explanations are out of the way now, but sometimes they’re not enough to clarify questions some people have! If you’ve still got some questions that need answering, then you’ve come to the right section. Using phrases like important to or for in sentences is the best way for you to learn how they’re used in real life and how you can make the most of them for yourself. We’ll start with “important to” in the subjective.

  • You are very important to me.
  • This whole house is important to me.
  • We are important to each other.
  • I am important to my boss.
  • He is important to his family.
  • You can’t be important to them.
  • We are all important to the people that care about us.
  • The dog is important to him.

In most of these examples, you’ll notice that the sentences refer to the importance of things for themselves. It’s always used in a way that shows something or someone is important specifically to you. It doesn’t just have to be other people (as you’ll see from the “house” example), but it has to hold meaning and value to someone’s life. Generally, if it positively impacts your life, it is “important to” you.

8 Examples Of How To Use Important FOR In A Sentence

Let’s look at the other side of this with the phrase “important for.” You can use all sorts of sentences to make this work, and you’ll see a few similarities, but the context is different in this case. You can use “important for” when talking about something having value to achieve something else. If that doesn’t make much sense, you’ll soon see exactly what we mean.

  • Getting out of the house is important for my physical health.
  • This job is important for my life plan.
  • School is important for children.
  • A good work-life balance is important for mental health.
  • Why is it important for me to get tested?
  • It’s important for us to know more about this.
  • It couldn’t be more important for me to find out what happened.
  • Statistics are important for government records.

In each of these cases, we’re not referring to other people or things holding value to somebody’s life. Instead, we’re finding the value in things affecting other things. For example, in the first sentence, it’s valuable for the person speaking’s physical health to get out of the house. The things in question are their “physical health” and “getting out of the house.” Do you understand how it works a little more now?

Quiz: Have You Mastered The Important TO Vs Important FOR Grammar?

Now that we’ve covered all the important points about the differences between the two phrases, it’s time to put what we’ve learned into practice. We’ve put together a quick quiz for you to test your new knowledge and see what you’ve picked up. We encourage you to read through the examples before you take the quiz. We’ve included the answers at the end to compare with as well, so you can go back and correct the ones you might have got wrong!

  1. It’s (A. important to / B. important for) me that you get home safe.
  2. You’re more (A. important to / B. important for) us than you’ll ever know.
  3. It’s (A. important to / B. important for) bees to pollinate flowers.
  4. We’re (A. important to / B. important for) the ones that love us.
  5. Homes are (A. important to / B. important for) daily living.

Quiz Answers

  1. A
  2. A
  3. B
  4. A
  5. B

You may also like: “To Me” or “For Me” – Correct Version (Expressing An Opinion)