Learn Hardcore Italian: La casa il cui giardino è grande è vicino alla stazione. - The house whose garden is big is near the station.

Il cui is a possessive relative pronoun meaning “whose.” It links la casa (the antecedent) to information about what belongs to it (its garden).

Why do we need the article il before cui?

In Italian cui alone carries no gender or number. The preceding article (il, la, i, le) agrees with the noun that follows: here il agrees with giardino (masculine singular).

Could we replace il cui with che?

No. Che cannot express possession. If you wrote la casa che il giardino è grande, it would be ungrammatical. To say “whose garden is big” you must use il cui (or la cui, i cui, le cui).

Can we use di cui here instead of il cui?

Di cui means “of which” or “about which” and is used when the verb or adjective requires di (e.g. il libro di cui ti parlavo). For simple possession (whose), Italian uses il/la/i/le cui.

Why isn’t there a comma before il cui giardino è grande?

Because this is a restrictive (defining) relative clause: it specifies which house we’re talking about. Restrictive clauses in Italian are not set off by commas.

Why must il cui giardino immediately follow la casa?

Relative clauses in Italian must follow the noun (antecedent) they modify. If you move it, it will seem to refer to whatever comes immediately before it (e.g. stazione).

Why is vicino followed by alla before stazione?

The adjective/adverb vicino requires the preposition a (vicino a). Since stazione is feminine singular, a + la contracts to alla stazione.

Could we place the adjective grande before giardino, and would it change anything?

Yes: la casa il cui grande giardino è vicino… is grammatically fine. Placing grande before the noun is more literary or emphatic; after the noun is neutral.