Breakdown of Aveva promesso che avrebbe pagato il triplo.
avere
to have
pagare
to pay
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
promettere
to promise
Questions & Answers about Aveva promesso che avrebbe pagato il triplo.
Why is there an il before triplo?
In Italian, multiplicative words like doppio (double) and triplo (triple) act as masculine nouns when used to mean the double or the triple of an amount. Because they are nouns in this context, they require the definite article il.
Why does the sentence use the past conditional (avrebbe pagato) for would pay instead of the present conditional?
This is a grammar rule called future in the past. Because the main action happened in the past (aveva promesso), any action that was in the future from that past moment must use the past conditional in Italian. English says he would pay, but Italian phrasing acts like he would have paid.
Why use aveva promesso instead of ha promesso?
Aveva promesso is the trapassato prossimo (past perfect) tense, meaning he had promised. It is used to talk about a past action that happened even earlier than another point in the past. If you used ha promesso, it would just mean he promised or he has promised.
Could this sentence also mean she had promised?
Yes. Because Italian usually drops subject pronouns like lui (he) and lei (she), the verbs aveva and avrebbe could refer to he, she, or even the formal you. You would rely on the surrounding conversation to know exactly who made the promise.