Learn Hardcore Italian: L’acqua che cade dalla fontana crea un suono rilassante. - The water that falls from the fountain creates a relaxing sound.

The apostrophe marks an elision: the final a of the feminine singular definite article la is dropped before the vowel-initial word acqua. Instead of la acqua, Italian contracts to l’acqua to avoid two adjacent vowels.

Why do we use che as the relative pronoun here instead of cui or il quale?

Che is the most common relative pronoun in Italian and serves as both subject and direct object. In this sentence it refers to l’acqua (the water) and functions as the subject of the subordinate verb cade.

Cui requires a preposition (e.g. di cui, in cui).
Il quale (or la quale) is more formal and must agree in gender/number, but che is by far the typical choice.

What person and tense is cade, and why is it used here?

Cade is the third person singular present indicative of cadere (“to fall”). We use it because:

The subject l’acqua is singular (“the water”).
The present tense describes a general or ongoing action (“water falls”).

What does dalla mean, and why is it written that way?

Dalla is a contraction of the preposition da (“from”) + the definite article la (“the”), because fontana is feminine singular.
So da + la fontana → dalla fontana = “from the fountain.”

Why is crea used here, and could we choose a different verb?

Crea is the third person singular present indicative of creare (“to create/produce”). Alternatives include:

Produce (from produrre), equally correct.
Fa (from fare), more colloquial but common: fa un suono rilassante.

Why do we say un suono rilassante instead of just suono rilassante or il suono rilassante?

In Italian, countable singular nouns normally require an article:

Un is the indefinite article used here because we’re not specifying a particular sound.
Omitting the article (suono rilassante) sounds ungrammatical.
Using the definite article il would imply a specific, known sound.

Why is the adjective rilassante used, and what does its -ante ending indicate?

Rilassante comes from the present participle of rilassare (“to relax”) and functions as an adjective meaning “relaxing.” Adjectives in -ante have:

The same form for masculine and feminine in the singular (rilassante),
A plural form in -i (rilassanti).

Why is there no comma before che in this sentence?

In Italian, restrictive (essential) relative clauses are not set off by commas. Here che cade dalla fontana specifies exactly which water we’re talking about, so no comma is used.

Could we use scende instead of cade for the water coming down?

Yes.

Cadere (“to fall”) emphasizes the action of falling.
Scendere (“to descend/go down”) emphasizes movement along a path.
Both are correct: L’acqua che scende dalla fontana also means “the water descending from the fountain.”

Why is the clause che cade dalla fontana placed immediately after l’acqua and not elsewhere?

Italian relative clauses must follow directly after the noun they modify. Placing che cade dalla fontana right after l’acqua ensures that the clause clearly and immediately describes “the water.” Moving it elsewhere would break that link and confuse the sentence.