Breakdown of Le regole, le quali riducono la velocità, sono fondamentali.
essere
to be
la regola
the rule
la velocità
the speed
il quale
who, which, whom (also la quale, i quali, le quali)
fondamentale
fundamental / essential
ridurre
to reduce
Questions & Answers about Le regole, le quali riducono la velocità, sono fondamentali.
Why use le quali here instead of the simpler che?
Both are grammatically correct and mean 'which' as a subject. However, le quali is a more formal, stylistic choice often used in writing. Because it changes to match the gender and number of the noun it replaces (feminine plural le regole), it is also great for avoiding ambiguity in complex sentences, even though che would work perfectly fine here.
Could I use cui instead of le quali in this sentence?
No. Cui is only used after a preposition (like di cui or a cui) to mean things like 'of which' or 'to which'. In this sentence, the relative pronoun is doing the action of reducing, which means it is the subject. For subjects, you can only use che or a form of il quale.
Le regole is feminine plural, so why does the adjective fondamentali end in -i instead of -e?
Adjectives that end in -e in their singular form (like fondamentale) have only one plural ending for both masculine and feminine nouns, which is -i. They don't follow the typical -o and -a patterns.
What is the infinitive of riducono?
The infinitive is ridurre (to reduce). Verbs ending in -urre (like tradurre or produrre) are irregular because they are conjugated based on their old Latin roots which contained a 'c'. That is why the 'c' pops up in present tense forms like riducono (they reduce).
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