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Emphatic Spanish reflexive pronouns for myself, yourself, himself...

Written by qualified Spanish expert Inma Sánchez BA
Last updated: 2024-03-25
11 questions

In Spanish we can use reflexive pronouns to express myself, yourself, himself, etc that are more emphatic than the short reflexive pronouns me, te, se, nos, os, se. Have a look at the table:

Subject pronouns

Reflexive subject pronouns (emphatic)Reflexive pronouns (emphatic- used with prepositions a, de, para, por, en)Reflexive pronouns (emphatic- used with preposition con)

yo

yo mismo/-a

mí mismo/-a

conmigo mismo/-a

I

myself

to/of/for/in myself

with myself

tú

tú mismo/-a

ti mismo/-a

contigo mismo/-a

you 

yourself

to/of/for/in yourself

with yourself

él

él mismo

sí mismo

consigo mismo

he

himself

to/of/for/in himself

with himself

ella

ella misma

sí misma

consigo misma

she 

herself

to/of/for/in herself

with herself

usted

usted mismo/-a

sí mismo/-a

consigo mismo/-a

you

sing. formal 

 yourself

to/of/for/in yourself

with yourself

nosotros/-as

nosotros/-as mismos/-as

nosotros/-as mismos/-as

con nosotros/-as mismos/-as

we 

ourselves

to/of/for/in ourselves

to/of/for/in ourselves

vosotros/-as

vosotros/-as mismos/-as

vosotros/-as mismos/-as

con vosotros/-as mismos/-as

you 

pl. informal

yourselves

to/of/for/in yourselves

with yourselves

ellos/-as

ellos/-as mismos/-as

sí mismos/-as

consigo mismos/-as

they 

themselves

to/of/for/in themselves

with themselves

ustedes

ustedes mismos/-as

sí mismos/-as

consigo mismos/-as

you

pl. formal

yourselves

to/of/for/in yourselves

with yourselves

 

We can emphasise the subject of the sentence, reinforcing the idea of doing something "yourself", by adding the subject reflexive pronouns, for example:

No te preocupes, yo hablaré con ella.
Don't worry, I will talk to her.

With even more emphasis:

No te preocupes, yo mismo hablaré con ella.Don't worry, I will talk to her myself.

Here are some other examples:

-¡Qué pastel más rico! -Lo hice yo mismo.-What a tasty cake! -I made it myself.

Ella misma se buscó los problemas.She made her own problems [Lit: she sought out problems herself].

No es ninguna molestia, nosotros mismos se lo enviaremos a su casa.It's not a problem, we will send it to your house ourselves.

Usted misma lo puede reclamar aunque su marido lo comprara con su tarjeta.You can request [the refund] yourself even though your husband bought it with his card.

Ustedes mismos deciden qué quieren hacer.You (formal) decide for yourselves what you want to do.

Ellos mismos avisaron de la avería.They themselves alerted [them] about the fault.

All the examples above use these reflexive pronouns as subjects of the sentence. 

Here are some examples using these pronouns with different prepositions and different functions in the sentence:

Las chicas organizaron una fiesta para sí mismas.The girls organised a party for themselves.

Tenéis que escribir una redacción de vosotros mismos, hablando de vuestra vida.You have to write an essay about yourselves, talking about your lives.

Carmen estaba muy contenta consigo misma, porque había avanzado mucho.Carmen was very pleased with herself because she had made a lot of progress.

Debes hacerlo por ti mismo, no por los demás.You must do it for yourself, not for others.

Gerardo no se fía ni siquiera de sí mismo. Es muy desconfiado.Gerardo doesn't even trust himself. He is very mistrustful.

Se sorprendieron a sí mismas con el resultado de su trabajo.They surprised themselves with the result of their work.

Sometimes, instead of using the pronoun sí mismo/-a/-os/-as, we use él/ella/ellos/ellas mismo/-a/-os/-as. For example:

Carmen estaba muy contenta consigo misma, porque había avanzado mucho.Carmen was very pleased with herself because she had made a lot of progress.

or 

Carmen estaba muy contenta con ella misma porque había avanzado mucho.Carmen was very pleased with herself because she had made a lot of progress.

Also,

Las chicas organizaron una fiesta para sí mismas.The girls organised a party for themselves.

or

Las chicas organizaron una fiesta para ellas mismas.The girls organised a party for themselves.

Using "uno/-a mismo/-a":

Instead of using "sí mismo" we can also use "uno/-a mismo/-a" with the same neutral meaning: oneself/yourself

Engañarse a uno mismo no tiene sentido.Deceiving oneself/yourself doesn't make any sense.

Lo mejor en este tipo de entrevista es ser una misma.The best thing [to do] in this type of interview is be oneself/yourself.

 

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Examples and resources

Ellos mismos avisaron de la avería.They themselves alerted [them] about the fault.
Tenéis que escribir una redacción de vosotros mismos, hablando de vuestra vida.You have to write an essay about yourselves, talking about your lives.
Carmen estaba muy contenta con ella misma porque había avanzado mucho.Carmen was very pleased with herself because she had made a lot of progress.
Carmen estaba muy contenta consigo misma, porque había avanzado mucho.Carmen was very pleased with herself because she had made a lot of progress.
-¡Qué pastel más rico! -Lo hice yo mismo.-What a tasty cake! -I made it myself.
No es ninguna molestia, nosotros mismos se lo enviaremos a su casa.It's not a problem, we will send it to your house ourselves.
No te preocupes, yo mismo hablaré con ella.Don't worry, I will talk to her myself.
Debes hacerlo por ti mismo, no por los demás.You must do it for yourself, not for others.
Las chicas organizaron una fiesta para sí mismas.The girls organised a party for themselves.
Gerardo no se fía ni siquiera de sí mismo. Es muy desconfiado.Gerardo doesn't even trust himself. He is very mistrustful.
Las chicas organizaron una fiesta para ellas mismas.The girls organised a party for themselves.
Lo mejor en este tipo de entrevista es ser una misma.The best thing [to do] in this type of interview is be oneself/yourself.
Se sorprendieron a sí mismas con el resultado de su trabajo.They surprised themselves with the result of their work.
Engañarse a uno mismo no tiene sentido.Deceiving oneself/yourself doesn't make any sense.
Ella misma se buscó los problemas.She made her own problems [Lit: she sought out problems herself].
Usted misma lo puede reclamar aunque su marido lo comprara con su tarjeta.You can request [the refund] yourself even though your husband bought it with his card.
Ustedes mismos deciden qué quieren hacer.You (formal) decide for yourselves what you want to do.
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