# Mica



## moodywop

I find that _mica_ is one of the words that seem to puzzle and fascinate my non-native friends - they often ask me about its use.

Offhand I can think of at least two major senses but I'm sure that together we'll come up with more:

Mica glie l'hai detto? = Surely you didn't tell him?

Mica vuoi farti un altro tatuaggio? (surely)

Mica sai dove abita? = you don't happen to know where he lives, do you?

Mica sono infallibile! = you don't think I'm infallible do you?

Mica male quel ragazzo! = look at that guy - not bad, eh?

Mica scherzo! = look..I'm not kidding

Mica costa poi tanto = it's not that expensive after all

Please join in the fun.

Carlo


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## Silvia B

_Non ho mica mangiato tutta la torta da sola!_ 
mmm...how could you render this one? I have no ideas! with "really"? 
Like: _"I didn't really eat..."_


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## walnut

"Non sono mica scemo"

Very common among kids.  W.


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## winnie

hai mica visto il mio ombrello? = did you happen to see my umbrella?


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## moodywop

Silvia B said:
			
		

> _Non ho mica mangiato tutta la torta da sola!_
> mmm...how could you render this one? I have no ideas! with "really"?
> Like: _"I didn't really eat..."_


 
Ciao Silvia

In risposta a qualcuno che ti accusasse di esserti divorata l'intera torta potresti dire:

Surely you don't think I woolfed down/scoffed the whole cake on my own , do you?

Forse un bel _Look! (mate)_ renderebbe la tua reazione più aggressiva. Chiederei conferma a lsp e Panji, ma lei è in Umbria e Panji was scared away by my literary quotes.

carlo


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## Jana337

Another link 

Jana


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## carrickp

Looks to me like you could substitute AE "no way" anywhere It. uses "mica."


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## moodywop

carrickp said:
			
		

> Looks to me like you could substitute AE "no way" anywhere It. uses "mica."


 
Hi carrickp

"No way" can substitute "mica" only in negative sentences. 

It's a tricky little word. You can't substitute "no way" in interrogative sentences:

Mica sei il fratello di Luca? = You don't happen to be....?

Mica si va a scuola domani? = You don't mean to tell me......?

or in affirmative sentences:

- Gli presti tu i soldi?

- Mica sono scemo! = I'm not stupid am I?

Mica male questo CD = this CD isn't bad at all/half bad

Actually I just got a brainwave! Look at this:

*Mica sono scemo!*

*Non sono mica scemo!*

I don't know if this was in the previous threads but I've just realized that if "mica" comes after the verb you need "non". If it comes before the verb the "non" is dropped.

Mica c'ho scritto fesso in fronte

Non c'ho mica scritto fesso in fronte (it doesn't say "jerk" on my forehead ).

Carlo


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## carrickp

moodywop said:
			
		

> Hi carrickp
> 
> "No way" can substitute "mica" only in negative sentences.



Well, I think maybe it can if a negative response is anticipated:

"Ain't no way you're going to the BeeGees movie!"

"Oh, YEAH, I'm going: Those dudes rock!"


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## moodywop

carrickp said:
			
		

> Well, I think maybe it can if a negative response is anticipated:
> 
> "Ain't no way you're going to the BeeGees movie!"
> 
> "Oh, YEAH, I'm going: Those dudes rock!"


 
Yes you're right. That's a perfect example of a sentence in which "mica" would be used:

Mica vai a vedere il film dei Bee Gees?

Out of curiosity, am I right in thinking that "Ain't no way"(there's no way) can also be used when telling someone you don't want them to do something?

There's no way you're going out with that scatterbrain!

Would intonation differentiate the two different meanings? Or is "ain't no way" different from "there's no way"?


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## carrickp

moodywop said:
			
		

> . . .Would intonation differentiate the two different meanings? Or is "ain't no way" different from "there's no way"?



"Ain't no way" and "there's no way" are exactly the same -- I just used "ain't" to emphasize the slang/informal/conversational quality of the context in which "no way" would more often be used.


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## Ludik

I would only add that "mica", even if it's a very common word, largely used almost everywhere in Italy, derives from dialects (northern) and should be used very carefully in written Italian. If I wrote "mica" in a composition at school, the teacher would surely consider it as an error...


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## moodywop

Ludik said:
			
		

> I would only add that "mica", even if it's a very common word, largely used almost everywhere in Italy, derives from dialects (northern) and should be used very carefully in written Italian. If I wrote "mica" in a composition at school, the teacher would surely consider it as an error...


 
Ludik

It's not a dialect word at all. If you check in your dictionary you will see that it is derived from Latin _mica_ and has been in use since the 12th century(_Palazzi-Folena, Dizionario della lingua italiana, Loescher)._

On the other hand it is certainly mostly used in spoken Italian.

Carlo


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## Panpan

carrickp said:
			
		

> "Ain't no way" and "there's no way" are exactly the same -- I just used "ain't" to emphasize the slang/informal/conversational quality of the context in which "no way" would more often be used.


 
'There's no way...' is used in British English, and is in very common use in the spoken language.

Hope that helps, and thanks for the interesting thread

Panpan


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## lsp

moodywop said:
			
		

> Yes you're right. That's a perfect example of a sentence in which "mica" would be used:
> 
> Mica vai a vedere il film dei Bee Gees?
> 
> Out of curiosity, am I right in thinking that "Ain't no way"(there's no way) can also be used when telling someone you don't want them to do something?
> 
> There's no way you're going out with that scatterbrain!
> 
> Would intonation differentiate the two different meanings? Or is "ain't no way" different from "there's no way"?


In AE: There's no way you're going out with that scatterbrain!
In NY: NO WAY are you going out with that scatterbrain!

"Ain't no way" sounds very dated, like you are parodying a hippie or something. Otherwise, it's very _street_ now, and I'm afraid it would sound silly coming from someone who couldn't get a part as an extra in an MTV video !


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## uinni

lsp said:
			
		

> In NY: NO WAY are you going out with that scatterbrain!


 
Exactly with the verb/subject inversion?


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## lsp

uinni said:
			
		

> Exactly with the verb/subject inversion?


Yes, and with the emphasis on the words in upper case. That's the problem with dubbing (in both directions), you lose the original color, even if the sense of the dialog is faithfully conveyed, otherwise you'd have heard this in lots of movies and TV shows. It's clearly a spoken construction only.


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## uinni

Thank you Isp!


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## grandmajoanie

Now that I have read all the previous threads on mica I am beginning to get the hang of it but I still cannot understand mica tanto. In the film I mentioned a woman says it in reply to a friend who tells her she must be happy her husband got a promotion. Does mica tanto mean she is not happy at all or that she is not as happy as she thought she would be?


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## Paulfromitaly

grandmajoanie said:


> Now that I have read all the previous threads on mica I am beginning to get the hang of it but I still cannot understand mica tanto. In the film I mentioned a woman says it in reply to a friend who tells her she must be happy her husband got a promotion. Does mica tanto mean she is not happy at all or that she is not as happy as she thought she would be?



mica tanto = not that much.


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## GavinW

Paulfromitaly said:


> mica tanto = not that much.


 
Also:
1) (actually,) not so much
2) not all that much(, actually)
3) hardly


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## piccione73

How could I translate:
"Non posso mica obbligarti"
Thanks!


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## giovannino

Maybe "I can't force you, can I?" or "It's not as if I can force you"


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## L'aura che tu respiri

It seems to me that _mica_ can often mean "hardly", even though the dictionary doesn't give that as a definition.  Is that slang-ish?  For instance:

La soluzione di Giuseppe e' una cattiva soluzione.  Quella di Giovanni e' mica migliore.


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## giovannino

L'aura che tu respiri said:


> It seems to me that _mica_ can often mean "hardly", even though the dictionary doesn't give that as a definition. Is that slang-ish? For instance:
> 
> La soluzione di Giuseppe e' una cattiva soluzione. Quella di Giovannie' mica migliore.


 
To me your example would make more sense if it were an exchange:

A: Quella proposta da Giuseppe è una pessima soluzione

B: Sì, ma quella proposta da Giovanni non è mica migliore

(this sort of implies A thinks Giovanni's solution is better than Giuseppe's)

You might find this other thread on "mica" and "affatto" interesting.


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## Erinlad

This following sentence comes from the Berlitz Kids Italian Picture Dictionary:

"Non vuole *mica* dimenticare il suo pranzo!"

It was translated as, "He does not want to forget his lunch. (There is a picture of a lunch box being handed to a child [represented by a turtle with a backpack] going off to school).

Are there other ways to translate this sentence? The "mica" part doesn't make any sense to me even after reading all of the posts in this thread.


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## pescara

Erinlad said:


> This following sentence comes from the Berlitz Kids Italian Picture Dictionary:
> 
> "Non vuole *mica* dimenticare il suo pranzo!"
> 
> It was translated as, "He does not want to forget his lunch. (There is a picture of a lunch box being handed to a child [represented by a turtle with a backpack] going off to school).
> 
> Are there other ways to translate this sentence? The "mica" part doesn't make any sense to me even after reading all of the posts in this thread.


 
In this context, I'd say: He certainly doesn't want to forget his lunch."

Ciao.


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## effeundici

Hi, consider that *mica *comes from *mollica (crumb)*

So, you could read it like this (let's change the object -lunch/crumb - otherwise it could be VERY misleading):

*He does not want to forget his umbrella, (not even) a piece of crumb*

So he really does not want to forget his umbrella, not even a small part of it, not at all, for sure.

Does it make some more sense now?

Another example: *non sono mica scemo ==> I'm not stupid, not even a piece of crumb, nemmeno un pezzettino, nemmeno poco, non sono scemo per niente *


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## L'aura che tu respiri

But what about in a sentence like this, where the speaker is drinking a cup of espresso very quickly:

*Mica ci vuole un'ora per bere una tazza di caffe'.*


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## pescara

L'aura che tu respiri said:


> But what about in a sentence like this, where the speaker is drinking a cup of espresso very quickly:
> 
> *Mica ci vuole un'ora per bere una tazza di caffe'.*


 
I'd say: It's not like it takes an hour to drink a cup of coffee.

Ciao.


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## effeundici

Secondo me *mica *ha avuto anche uno spostamento di significato nel senso che si è rafforzato rispetto al significato originale.

_Mica / Mollica ==> poco, quasi niente_

è diventato col tempo ==> PER NIENTE / Non è affatto vero

Perciò: _Ci vuole 1 ora per bere una tazza di caffè MICA_ ==> non è affatto vero che ci vuole 1 ora per bere una tazza di caffè. 



L'aura che tu respiri said:


> But what about in a sentence like this, where the speaker is drinking a cup of espresso very quickly:
> 
> *Mica ci vuole un'ora per bere una tazza di caffe'.*


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## marco.landi

How does mica translate in the sentence:

Dev'essere contenta lei, mica io.


She must be happy, not me (?)

The speaker is making a sarcastic aside about a difficult customer.


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## Paulfromitaly

marco.landi said:


> How does mica translate in the sentence:
> 
> Dev'essere contenta lei, mica io.
> 
> 
> She must be happy, not me (?)
> 
> The speaker is making a sarcastic aside about a difficult customer.



Mica can mean:


 not
at all, in the least
 by any chance
 I'd vote for #1.


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## brian

Sometimes _mica_ can mean "such & such is *not* so, _even though you (or someone else) may think so_":

Dev'essere contenta lei, mica io!
_She_ has to be happy, not _me_!

= Don't get the wrong picture... _she's_ the one who has to be happy, not me (in case you or she were thinking otherwise).

Eh.. hard to explain.


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## marco.landi

Thanks that's much clearer; I guess it's kind of a negative intensifier in this case (stronger than just 'non').

Thanks to all.


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## brian

Yes, but it also has a certain persuasive/argumentative/sarcastic/etc. tone, depending on the context.

For example, you tell your friend how the burgers at Mr. Grease's are so delicious and he should go try one (note: one, because they are so greasy & unhealthy). He comes back and says how wrong you were: he ate 3 and was sick the rest of the day. You respond: "Mica ti ho detto mangiarne 3!" --> has the sense of "Waaaaiiiiit just a second! I said one was good, but I certainly didn't tell you to eat three of them!"

A similar feeling can be rendered with the word "ma" in front of "non", or maybe the construction "ma non è che..." But "mica" is great because it's a powerful little word that packs a lot of punch.


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## caterinasarah

*S*arebbe correcto dire:

"*N*on sembri mica razzista..." (sarcastico)  ??
How in *E*nglish you would say: "you don't seem racist at all..."


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## Paulfromitaly

caterinasarah said:


> *S*arebbe correcto dire:
> 
> "*N*on sembri mica razzista..." (sarcastico)  ??
> How in *E*nglish you would say: "you don't seem racist at all..."


That's correct.


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## laurentius87

Ludik said:


> I would only add that "mica", even if it's a very common word, largely used almost everywhere in Italy, derives from dialects (northern) and should be used very carefully in written Italian. If I wrote "mica" in a composition at school, the teacher would surely consider it as an error...



Surely it's way more common in spoken Italian, but if you skim any Italian book you will possibly find _mica _(and not only in dialogues).

Calvino, Pasolini, Pavese, Sciascia used plenty of _mica_.


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## caterinasarah

Paulfromitaly said:


> That's correct.



Grazie!

Scusa la mancanza di maiuscole


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