Can I say de cuenta que se dio?
Using a poetic lisence could you say
de cuenta que se dio -
the orginal sentence is se dio cuenta de que
2 Answers
de cuenta que se dio means "that took account of", while your original sentence says "realized that." Close meanings, and if you are OK with that, then I say absolutely you can use the changed one.
No you can't change that phrase like that, maybe, just maybe you can say ""Cuenta se dio de que..."; people would understand that but the original phrase is basically the only one used that way.