Breakdown of Il bersaglio del raggiro era così ingenuo che ha creduto a tutto.
essere
to be
avere
to have
di
of, from
tutto
everything
a
to / at
così
so, like this
credere
to believe
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
ingenuo
naive
il bersaglio
the target
il raggiro
the trick (deception)
Questions & Answers about Il bersaglio del raggiro era così ingenuo che ha creduto a tutto.
Why do we say creduto a tutto instead of just creduto tutto?
In Italian, credere a is used when you believe a story, a person, or a lie—essentially trusting that something is true. Since tutto (everything) here refers to the lies he was told, it requires the preposition a. Using credere transitively (without a) is usually done when it's followed by a full clause, like credo che tu abbia ragione (I believe you are right).
Why is ha creduto in the indicative mood here? Doesn't che often trigger the subjunctive?
The structure così [adjective] che (so [adjective] that) introduces a consecutive clause, which states the result of an action. Because this result actually happened as a real, completed fact (he really did believe everything), you must use the indicative. You would only use the subjunctive with this structure if the consequence were hypothetical, such as in a negative sentence or a question.
What kind of 'trick' is a raggiro?
Why use era (imperfect) in the first half but ha creduto (passato prossimo) in the second half?
This sentence perfectly highlights how the two past tenses work together. Era così ingenuo sets the background scene by describing an ongoing characteristic (he was a naive person). Ha creduto a tutto describes the specific, bounded event that happened as a result of that state (he fell for the scam at that moment).
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