Conversational Italian #7: Mica and Manco – Podcast

MicaandMancoaretwoverypopularwordsinspokenItalian.Let’slearnhowtousethemwithcommonsentences.Listentotheircorrectpronunciationwithourwebcast.

  MicaandMancoareverycommonexpressionsinspokenItalian,butnotmanyteachersortextbookswilltellyouhowtousethem.Theyareperhaps”tooconversational”,notconventional,andsometimesdifficulttoexplain.I’lltrytodothatinasimplefashion.

 
MICA Thewordmica,comesstraight fromtheLatinfor”breadcrumb”.TheLatinoriginisstillreflected insomeother Italianwords.Forexample,I’mfromMilanandthetypicalbreadrollofmycityiscalled”michetta”,”littlecrumb”.Theoriginalmeaningofmica isnowlost,themodernItaliantermforbreadcrumbisbriciola.

TheconversationalItalianword mica then,roughlymeans”notevenabreadcrumb”,closetotheEnglish”notonebit”or”notatall”.It’susedtointensifythenegative meaning ofasentence.Let’sseesomeexampleswiththepodcast:

 

  • Micamale!-Notbadatall!
  • Micatanto-Not really.
  • Micapizzaefichi-Notpizzanorfigs(somethingextraordinary)
  • Nonhomicacapito-Ididn’tunderstand,notonebit
  • Nonsaramicasuccessoqualcosa?Ihopenothing(atall)hashappened
  • Haimicaunasigaretta?Doyouhappentohaveacigarette?
  • Marcononmipiacemicatanto-Idon’tlikehim,notonebit
  • Nonsonomicascemo-I’mnotafool,notatall
  • Nonhomicafretta-I’mnotinahurry
  • Iomicacivadoalconcerto-I’mnotgoingtotheconcert(notachance)
MANCO MancoissimplerthanMica.It’saconversationalalternativetothewordneanche (noteven).We’llseethatMancoisusedtobuildquitecommonconversationalandidiomaticsentences.YouwillneverfinditonbooksorpapersasastandardItalianword,butyourItalianfriendswilluseit,sowillyou.Let’shavealookatsomeexamples,listentothepodcast.

 

  • Mancoadirlo… -Needlesstosay…
  • Mancoafarloapposta…-Asifonpurpose(lit.notevenifIdidthatonpurpose)
  • Mancofosseilcapo-Asifhewastheboss
  • Nonsamancocosafare-Hedoesn’tevenknowwhattodo
  • Sonoinritardo,nonhomancofattocolazione-I’mlate,Ievenhadn’tbreakfast
  • Mancolicani!-(sicilian)Notevendogs(wouldeat/lookat /helpyou)
  • Nonèmancosimpatico-He’snotevenfunny
  • Mancoaparlarne-Notevenclose(lit.noteventalkaboutthat)
  • Mancopersogno-Noteveninyourdreams
  • Nonmihamancosalutato-Heevendidn’tsayhello

  EventhoughMicaandMancohavedifferentmeanings,Ichosetohavetheminthesametopicforanotherreason.BothtermsareusedacrossthecountrybutMicaismorecommoninorthern/centralItalyandMancoisusedmoreofteninsouthernItaly.Ifyoutravelandhaveachancetogoforatournorthtosouth,payattentiontowhatpeoplesay.I’msureyouwillsoonerorlaterhearMicaandManco,andyouwillunderstandbetterhowtheyareusedindailyconversation.Anyquestions?Pleaseletmeknow.Ciao!

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Riccardo
Milanese, graduated in Italian literature a long time ago, I began teaching Italian online in Japan back in 2003. I usually spend winter in Tokyo and go back to Italy when the cherry blossoms shed their petals.

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