Question 1

Why is it cuyas (feminine plural) when the owner, el monumento, is masculine singular?

Accepted Answer

This is the most important rule for the relative pronoun cuyo: it must agree in gender and number with the noun that comes after it (the possessed item), not the noun that comes before it (the owner). Since it is referring to estatuas, which is feminine plural, you must use cuyas.

Question 2

Is it grammatically correct to say que sus estatuas instead of cuyas estatuas?

Accepted Answer

No, it is grammatically incorrect, though you might hear native speakers say it in casual speech (a common error known as quesuismo). In correct Spanish, you should always use the proper form of cuyo to express "whose" in this type of clause.

Question 3

Could I use van a restaurar instead of restaurarán here?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. Ellos van a restaurar is the informal future and is extremely common in everyday Latin American Spanish. However, the one-word future tense (restaurarán) sounds slightly more formal, which perfectly matches the use of cuyas—a word also typically reserved for written or elevated contexts.

Question 4

Why do we say son de mármol instead of just son mármol?

Accepted Answer

In English, we often use a noun directly as an adjective (saying "they are marble"). In Spanish, to describe what something is made of, you must use the preposition de followed by the material noun. It translates literally as "they are of marble".

Ellos restaurarán el monumento histórico cuyas estatuas son de mármol.

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