Breakdown of I tifosi credevano che non avremmo pareggiato la finale.
non
not
avere
to have
credere
to believe
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
Questions & Answers about I tifosi credevano che non avremmo pareggiato la finale.
Since credevano che expresses a belief, why isn't the next verb in the subjunctive?
Because it expresses the 'future in the past'. When someone in the past believed or said that something would happen later, Italian uses the past conditional (avremmo pareggiato). If they believed something was happening at the exact same time, you would use the past subjunctive.
Why is credevano in the imperfect tense rather than the passato prossimo?
Why is finale feminine (la finale) here?
What is the base verb for pareggiato?
The infinitive is pareggiare, which means 'to tie' or 'to draw' in a game. It is built from the adjective pari, which means 'equal' or 'even'.