Log inSign up

Credevo che la missione non fosse ancora iniziata.

Credevo che la missione non fosse ancora iniziata.
I believed that the mission had not yet begun.
From Lesson 293:Sequence of tenses with the pluperfect subjunctive·Italian

Questions & Answers about Credevo che la missione non fosse ancora iniziata.

Why do we use the pluperfect subjunctive (fosse iniziata) instead of the past perfect indicative (era iniziata)?
The main verb Credevo (I believed) expresses a personal thought or opinion, which triggers the subjunctive. Since the main clause is in a past tense, and the mission not starting happened before that belief, we use the pluperfect subjunctive to show this earlier chronological timeframe.
Why is the auxiliary verb fosse (from essere) used here instead of avesse (from avere)?
The verb iniziare (to begin) takes essere as its auxiliary when it is used intransitively—meaning there is no direct object, and an event just starts on its own. If the sentence was about someone starting a specific thing (like "he had started the car"), you would use avere.
Why does the past participle end in -a (iniziata)?
Because the compound tense uses essere as its auxiliary verb (fosse), the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject of the clause. The subject here is la missione, which is feminine singular, so iniziato changes to iniziata.
Why is ancora placed right in the middle of the verb?
In Italian compound tenses, short adverbs of time like ancora (yet/still), già (already), and mai (never) are typically placed right between the auxiliary verb (fosse) and the past participle (iniziata).

Learn Credevo che la missione non fosse ancora iniziata and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →