valer la pena
verbCEFR B1High frequency
What does “valer la pena” mean in English?
1.to be worth it, to be worthwhile
to be worth it, to be worthwhile (vale la pena + inf / vale la pena que + subj)
2.to have intrinsic worth / merit
to have intrinsic worth / merit (literal: este esfuerzo vale la pena — this effort is worth something)
Example sentences
¿Vale la pena hacer un máster de dos años si al final vas a seguir trabajando en lo mismo que antes?
Is it worth doing a two-year master's degree if you're going to end up doing the same job as before?
Creo que valdría la pena que te quedaras una semana más en el programa para que puedas sacarle todo el provecho posible.
I think it would be worth your staying one more week on the programme so you can get the most out of it.
Al final decidimos que no valía la pena cambiar de apartamento porque los gastos del traslado eran demasiado altos.
In the end we decided it wasn't worth moving flat because the moving costs were too high.
How to use it
Valer la pena means 'to be worth it' or 'to be worthwhile'. Like hacer falta, it is an impersonal expression. The two constructions are: (1) vale la pena + infinitive (no specific subject for the embedded clause — 'it is worth doing X'); (2) vale la pena que + present subjunctive (when a specific different subject must be named — 'it is worth it for you to do X'). Both are extremely common at B1 for weighing plans and justifying decisions. It can appear in the conditional (valdría la pena) in si-clause hypotheticals: 'Si tuvieras más tiempo, valdría la pena que visitaras el sur'.
Common mistake
After 'vale la pena que', the subjunctive is required: '*vale la pena que te quedas' is wrong. The impersonal value-judgement structure follows the same rule as es mejor que, es importante que: indicative is blocked. Say 'vale la pena que te quedes'.