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Infatti, dubitavo che lui avesse smascherato il traditore.

Infatti, dubitavo che lui avesse smascherato il traditore.
In fact, I doubted that he had unmasked the traitor.
From Lesson 293:Sequence of tenses with the pluperfect subjunctive·Italian

Questions & Answers about Infatti, dubitavo che lui avesse smascherato il traditore.

Why is avesse smascherato in the pluperfect subjunctive (trapassato congiuntivo)?
This is the sequence of tenses in action. The main verb dubitavo (I doubted) is in a past tense and expresses doubt, which triggers the subjunctive in the next clause. Because the action of unmasking happened before the doubting, we must use the pluperfect subjunctive (avesse smascherato) to show that it happened further back in the past.
Why is the main verb dubitavo in the imperfect rather than the passato prossimo?
Dubitavo describes an ongoing state of mind in the past (I was doubting / I held the doubt). The imperfect is the natural choice for describing feelings, thoughts, and states of mind in the past, rather than a single, sudden event.
Could I leave out lui and just say dubitavo che avesse smascherato...?
Yes, grammatically you can drop the pronoun. However, because avesse is the same for io, tu, and lui/lei in the imperfect subjunctive (the helping verb), including lui avoids ambiguity. It makes it crystal clear that he is the one who supposedly unmasked the traitor, not I or you.
Does infatti mean exactly the same thing as the English "in fact"?
Be careful, as infatti is a bit of a false friend! While it translates to "in fact," it is used strictly to confirm, explain, or agree with what was just said (similar to "indeed" or "exactly"). In English, we often use "in fact" to contradict something (e.g., "I thought it was raining, but in fact it's sunny"), but in Italian, you would use in realtà for that.
How is the verb smascherato formed?
It comes from the verb smascherare (to unmask). You can see the root word maschera (mask) right in the middle of it. The prefix s- in Italian often acts like the English prefix "un-" or "dis-", giving the verb the opposite meaning of putting on a mask.

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