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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