Credevo che la ricotta sarebbe bastata, invece ho dovuto comprare un altro barattolo di yogurt.

I thought the ricotta would be enough, but instead I had to buy another jar of yogurt.

Breakdown of Credevo che la ricotta sarebbe bastata, invece ho dovuto comprare un altro barattolo di yogurt.

• io: I
• di: of
• comprare: to buy
• che: that

Questions & Answers about Credevo che la ricotta sarebbe bastata, invece ho dovuto comprare un altro barattolo di yogurt.

Why is it credevo and not ho creduto?

Credevo is the imperfetto, which is very common for past thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions. It presents the belief as a background mental state: I thought / I believed.

Here, the speaker is describing what they believed before discovering that reality was different.

Ho creduto is possible in other contexts, but it usually sounds more like a completed act of believing, not the natural background idea found here.

Why is there che after credevo?

Che means that and introduces the clause that explains what the speaker believed:

• Credevo che... = I thought that...

In English, that is often omitted, but in Italian che is normally required.

Why do we say sarebbe bastata?

This is the form Italian uses to express a future-in-the-past idea.

From the past point of view of credevo, the speaker expected that later the ricotta would be enough. Italian expresses that with conditional past:

• sarebbe bastata

Even though the form is technically a past conditional, in English it often translates simply as would be enough, not necessarily would have been enough.

Why isn’t it bastasse?