Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Vi-me a mim próprio no vídeo da festa.

Vi-me a mim próprio no vídeo da festa.

I saw my own self in the party video.

Breakdown of Vi-me a mim próprio no vídeo da festa.

Questions & Answers about Vi-me a mim próprio no vídeo da festa.

Why do we use both -me and a mim here? Isn't vi-me enough?

Vi-me on its own does mean "I saw myself", but Portuguese often uses this double structure (-me + a mim) for strong emphasis. Adding a mim próprio is like saying "I saw my very own self" rather than just a casual "I saw myself". This kind of repetition is grammatically correct and very natural in spoken Portuguese.

Does próprio change depending on who is speaking?

Yes, it must agree with the gender of the speaker. Since it modifies mim (which refers back to the subject "I"), a male speaker says a mim próprio, while a female speaker must say a mim própria. If a group were saying "We saw our own selves", it would be a nós próprios or a nós próprias.

Why is there an a before mim próprio?

Even though the verb ver usually takes a direct object without a preposition, Portuguese requires the preposition a whenever you use a stressed independent object pronoun like mim, ti, or ele/ela to represent a person. This clarifies that mim is the object receiving the action.

I often see pronouns before the verb. Why is it attached to the end here as vi-me?