“I don’t have these colors!” is the translation. Is this some emphatic statement? Like someone is really annoyed? If it is, I do not think the salesperson would use it in the paint selling store when they are out of certain colors.
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It’s a strange one for sure. It feels like a quote from a cartoon or film or such, but I can’t immediately find anything related to it.
I read it as “those there aren’t at ALL my colors” - meaning that the puce with green stripes is not in any way a flattering garment.
Yes? No? My understanding of “ci” is still shaky…
My guess is that the word “mica” turns the whole statement as if coming from a very irritated person. At least in this example. I also checked other sentences in CM containing the word “mica” and most of them sounded to me as such. Non siamo mica gli americani! We are not Americans! Could it be my perception? Just kidding. Mica word is the key here with the exclamation point. This will be my bet.
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Non…mica = “not in the least!”
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Mica is used here, I think, just to strengthen “non” meaning he’s definitely not got these colours!
I do not have those colors at all! Is this better when we are dealing with “non” and “mica” in the sentence? We need Morbrorper to wake up in his part of the world to check his dictionary. Non ce li ho mica il dizionario come suo!
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Ciao! Couple of esempi I found: “Non si è mica presentato alla fine!” (He didn’t show up in the end!), “Non è mica uno scherzo questo!” (This is no laughing matter!) and “Non sono mica stata io!” (It wasn’t me!).
Tiny word with much meaning;-)
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So I see 3 elements of extra emphasis in this statement beyond a simple “Non ho questi colori” (well, 4 elements if you include the exclamation mark).
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The sentences uses an emphatic io at the end of the statement, to emphasise that I personally don’t have these colours (but someone else might).
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The sentence uses the direct object li before the verb to put extra emphasis on questi colori by repetition. Note that the ce is then obligatory to accompany the li and serves no purpose - that is to say that ce has no meaning itself. This is an example of “ci attualizzante”, and in the case of adding a direct object lo, la, le or li before the verb avere it is required (although I did once read that it might not be required before le or li). I’ll attach a screenshot of the relevant page from Treccani
A quick web search shows this website called “learnamo” mentioning this phenomenon (search on the page for “CI with some questions”). -
There is then the use of mica to emphasise that this person really doesn’t have these colours (or even colors for our North American friends
).
As an example of the use of mica for emphasis, I’ll point to this Wikipedia page showing the marketing slogans of the German electronics giant MediaMarkt. In most languages they use a translation of the German equivalent of “I’m not so stupid”. If anyone understands German then they will recognise the use of the word “doch” as an emphatic particle in the German phrase. In the Swiss-Italian marketing, they therefore made the phrase “Non sono mica scemo”, to add that emphasis as well. It was a very good bit of marketing, as the phrase “Non sono mica scemo” became synonymous with MediaMarkt in Italian-speaking Switzerland (Svizzera Italiana).
So I would interpret it as going from “I don’t have these colours” to something like “I personally, definitely do not have these particular colours!”, or with a bit more interpretation of a likely scenario where this might be used “In this store, we definitely do not stock these particular colours!”.
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Grazie mille per analisi! It was really helpful! On that German “doch” I think I found its cousin “duh”.“I left the keys in the igniton-duh!”
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You’ve all done a splendid job here, so I have nothing to add to the analysis. 
These issues, that go beyond the dictionary and written grammar, are actually beyond me as well.I probably lack the imagination.
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Così, un negozio di ferramenta senza questi colori di vernice?! Francamente non è mica uno scherzo questo!
So much to learn eh!
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@zzcguns Thanks for the “ce l’hai” info. Sometimes I Iearn these frases “a pappagallo” and later down the line everything falls into place. Your notes are an excellent reminder.
A dopo…
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So much to learn. I literally studied “ce l’hai” last month and yet forgot its construction.
Thanks to all - this has been a great discussion!
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An interesting discussion of “mica”
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