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La finca en la que vivía mi abuelo era muy hermosa.

La finca en la que vivía mi abuelo era muy hermosa.
The estate in which my grandfather lived was very beautiful.
From Lesson 331:Complex relative pronouns (el que, el cual)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about La finca en la que vivía mi abuelo era muy hermosa.

Why do we use en la que here instead of just donde?
Because la finca is a physical place, using donde is perfectly correct and very common. However, en la que (in which) is also widely used and adds a slight touch of formality or precision. The la is used to match the feminine singular la finca.
Could I use en la cual instead of en la que in this sentence?
Yes, en la cual is grammatically correct and means the exact same thing. However, el cual and its variations are generally more formal and more common in written Spanish. In everyday spoken Latin American Spanish, en la que is usually the much more natural choice.
Why is the subject mi abuelo placed after the verb vivía?
In Spanish relative clauses (the part of the sentence introduced by que, donde, etc.), it is very common and natural to put the verb before the subject. You could say en la que mi abuelo vivía, but en la que vivía mi abuelo flows better and sounds more native.
Why are both verbs in this sentence (vivía and era) in the imperfect tense?
The imperfect tense is used for setting the scene and describing ongoing states in the past. Here, vivía describes the continuous, undefined period of time he lived there, and era describes the estate's ongoing physical beauty, rather than a one-time completed action.

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