Learn Italian: Ho dovuto rifiutare la proposta, anche se mi volevi convincere. - I had to refuse the proposal, even though you wanted to convince me.

This highlights the main difference between these two past tenses! We use the passato prossimo (ho dovuto rifiutare) because the obligation resulted in a completed action—I had to refuse, and I actually did it. We use the imperfetto (volevi convincere) to describe a state of mind or an ongoing intention in the background—you 'wanted' to convince me, but this was just your intention, not a completed event.

Why does dovere take avere here (ho dovuto) instead of essere?

When a modal verb like dovere, potere, or volere is used in the passato prossimo, it usually borrows the auxiliary verb of the infinitive that follows it. Since you would say ho rifiutato (using avere), the modal also takes avere, making it ho dovuto rifiutare.

Could I say volevi convincermi instead of mi volevi convincere?

Yes, absolutely! When you have a conjugated modal verb followed by an infinitive, you have two choices for where to put the object pronoun (mi). You can place it right before the conjugated verb (mi volevi convincere) or attach it to the end of the infinitive after dropping its final 'e' (volevi convincermi). Both are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing.

Does anche se always take the indicative mood like it does here?