Learn Italian: Parlerei del politico di cui leggo oggi. - I would talk about the politician I am reading about today.

Parlerei del politico di cui leggo oggi.

I would talk about the politician I am reading about today.

Breakdown of Parlerei del politico di cui leggo oggi.

Questions & Answers about Parlerei del politico di cui leggo oggi.

Why do we use di cui here instead of just che?

In Italian, when a relative pronoun follows a preposition, you must use cui instead of che. Because the phrase is leggere di (to read about), the preposition di must go right before the pronoun. So, di cui translates to "about whom".

Where is the word "about" from the English translation "the politician I am reading about"?

In English, we often leave prepositions like "about" at the very end of the sentence. In Italian, you can never leave a preposition dangling at the end. It must be moved to the middle of the sentence, directly in front of cui. That is why it becomes di cui leggo (about whom I read).

Could I use del quale instead of di cui in this sentence?

Yes! di cui is the most common and simple way to say "about whom". But since politico is a masculine singular noun, you could also use del quale. Both are correct and mean the exact same thing here.

Why is it del politico and not just di politico?