Question 1

Why do we use di quanto here instead of just di or che for 'than'?

Accepted Answer

We use di quanto (or di quello che) because we are comparing a quality to a full clause with a conjugated verb (ricordavo). If we were just comparing two nouns or two adjectives, we would use di or che.

Question 2

Could I use di quello che instead of di quanto in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes! ...è più ricco di quello che ricordavo means exactly the same thing. Di quello che is often preferred in everyday spoken Italian, while di quanto is slightly more elegant, but they are fully interchangeable here.

Question 3

The lesson example uses the subjunctive (di quanto pensassi), but here we have the imperfect indicative (ricordavo). Why?

Accepted Answer

While di quanto is very often followed by the subjunctive to express subjective thoughts or expectations (like pensassi or sperassi), the indicative is common in everyday Italian, especially with concrete facts or memories like ricordavo. You could absolutely say di quanto ricordassi, which just sounds a bit more formal.

Question 4

Why is it ricordavo (imperfect tense) and not ho ricordato (passato prossimo)?

Accepted Answer

The imperfect (ricordavo) describes an ongoing state in the past, meaning 'what my memory used to be' over a period of time. Ho ricordato would mean a single, sudden action ('I suddenly remembered'), which doesn't fit the continuous nature of comparing how you used to think of the vocabulary.

Il vocabolario regionale è più ricco di quanto ricordavo.

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