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Capisco il dialetto meno di quello che credevo.

Capisco il dialetto meno di quello che credevo.
I understand the dialect less than I believed.
From Lesson 284:Clause-level comparisons (di quanto, di quello che)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Capisco il dialetto meno di quello che credevo.

Why do we use di quello che here instead of just di or che?
When you compare something to a whole clause (a phrase that has its own conjugated verb, like credevo here), you cannot just use di or che. You need to use a phrase like di quello che (literally "than that which") or di quanto to link the two parts of the sentence.
Could I use di quanto in this sentence instead?
Yes, absolutely! di quello che and di quanto are completely interchangeable when making this kind of comparison. You could easily say Capisco il dialetto meno di quanto credevo and it would mean the exact same thing.
Why is the verb credevo in the imperfect tense rather than the passato prossimo?
The imperfect tense (credevo) is used to describe ongoing states, habits, or beliefs in the past. Your belief about how well you understood the dialect was a continuous state of mind leading up to this realization, rather than a single, sudden event.
I have seen the subjunctive used in comparisons like this. Could I say credessi instead of credevo?
Yes, you can! When making a comparison with di quello che or di quanto, it is very common and slightly more elegant to use the subjunctive (credessi). However, using the indicative (credevo) is perfectly correct and very typical in everyday spoken Italian.

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