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