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Eles mesmos demonstram essa acrobacia.

Eles mesmos demonstram essa acrobacia.
They themselves demonstrate that acrobatic move.
From Lesson 391:Focus adverbs (mesmo)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Eles mesmos demonstram essa acrobacia.

Why is mesmos plural in this sentence?
In this sentence, mesmos acts as an intensive adjective meaning "themselves", directly emphasizing the pronoun Eles. Because it modifies a masculine plural pronoun, it must agree with it. If it were used as a focus adverb meaning "really" or "even", it would stay as the invariable mesmo.
How would the meaning change if the sentence started with Mesmo eles... instead?
Moving the word to the beginning and making it invariable changes its syntactic scope so it becomes a focus adverb. Mesmo eles demonstram essa acrobacia translates to "Even they demonstrate that acrobatic move," which changes the emphasis from their identity to the surprising fact that they are participating.
Could I put the emphatic word at the end, like "Eles demonstram essa acrobacia mesmos"?
No. Unlike English, where you can comfortably put "themselves" at the end of the clause, in Portuguese the intensive mesmos must sit immediately after the noun or pronoun it is emphasizing.
Why use essa acrobacia instead of aquela acrobacia if both mean "that acrobatic move"?
Using essa indicates that the acrobatic move was just mentioned in the conversation, or that it is conceptually closely related to the listener. If it were a completely new topic or physically distant from both the speaker and the listener, you would use aquela.

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