Affirmative vs negative sentence with "mica"

Question

I have heard the following two sentences in a discussion between a wife and a husband about the husband's addiction to smoking, in a TV series:

– Non ce la fai proprio a smettere, vero? (= You just can't quit, can you?) – Così però mica mi aiuti! (= That doesn't help at all!)

I see that "mica" is an informal equivalent of "affatto" (= at all), but I don't understand why the Italian sentence is not in the negative as the English one. Does "però" make that sentence negative?

Related question: https://italian.stackexchange.com/q/1656. – Charo Oct 18 '19 at 05:36 — Charo, Oct 18 '19 at 05:36

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:30

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Mica:

L’avverbio di negazione mica ha la funzione di rafforzare la negazione della frase. È tipico dell’uso parlato e informale ed è quindi sconsigliabile nello scritto.

Come per gli altri aggettivi e pronomi indefiniti negativi, richiede la doppia negazione quando si trova dopo il verbo

Non sono mica stupido

non quando lo precede

Mica sono stupido.

(Treccani.it)

As you can see from the above examples when the adverb “mica” precedes the verb you don’t use the double negative construction.

As per your example:

Così però mica mi aiuti.

edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:30

Community

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answered Oct 18 '19 at 04:04

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It should be noted (from Treccani's dictionary - http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/mica1/) that mica means literally "crumb", to mean a very small quantity of something or the smallest/infinitesimal quantity possible. So "Mica sono stupido" could literally mean "I am not stupid, not even a crumb" or "I don't have even a crumb of stupidity". A similar expression is per niente (Non sono per niente stupido, Così non mi aiuti per niente , etc.) – Riccardo De Contardi Oct 18 '19 at 14:06
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@RiccardoDeContardi - probably “in the least” is the English expression that comes close in usage and meaning. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/in-the-least – Oct 18 '19 at 14:27
that's a good one. I would add that to your answer. – Riccardo De Contardi Oct 18 '19 at 14:58

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:30

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The word mica was originally a noun that means breadcrumbs, intended as something insignificant.

Now that this word acts as an adverb can be used both as a replacement or an intensifier of the negation non. The following sentences have the same meaning:

Così mica mi aiuti

Così non mi aiuti mica

edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:30

Community

1

answered Oct 23 '19 at 02:31

Taekwondavide

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Affirmative vs negative sentence with "mica"

2 Answers2