Learn Italian: Non l'avevo mica fatto apposta. - I hadn't done it on purpose at all.

The word mica is used to emphasize a negation, similar to saying "at all" or "in the least" in English. Here, non paired with mica turns a simple "I hadn't done it" into a much stronger, defensive statement. It often implies that the speaker thinks the listener might wrongly believe they did it intentionally.

Why is mica placed between avevo and fatto?

In compound tenses like the one used here, mica is usually placed right between the helping verb (avevo) and the past participle (fatto). This is the exact same spot where you place other common adverbs like mai (never) or già (already).

Why does the sentence use avevo fatto instead of ho fatto?

Avevo fatto is the past perfect tense (trapassato prossimo), which translates to "I had done". You use it to talk about an action that happened before another past action. If you simply wanted to say "I didn't do it on purpose" regarding a single, finished past event, you would use the present perfect (passato prossimo) and say Non l'ho mica fatto apposta.

What does the l' in l'avevo stand for?