Emphasizing Pronouns
When you want to emphasize that someone is doing something themselves—like when you're frantically preparing a room for surprise guests—you can add mismo after the subject pronoun.
Just remember that mismo acts like an adjective here, so it must agree in gender and number with the person or people it refers to (mismo, misma, mismos, mismas).
| I vacuum the mattress myself. | Yo mismo aspiro el colchón. |
| We ourselves air out the closet and shake out the clothes. | Nosotros mismos ventilamos el armario y sacudimos la ropa. |
Emphasizing Adverbs
You can also use mismo to add a sense of urgency or exactness to adverbs of time and place. When attached to words like ahora (now), hoy (today), aquí (here), or ahí (there), it translates to "right" or "this very."
When used with an adverb, mismo never changes its form. It is always mismo.
| We need to air out the room and wash the pillowcase right now. | Necesitamos ventilar el cuarto y lavar la funda ahora mismo. |
| When you finish vacuuming, leave the vacuum cleaner right there. | Cuando termines de aspirar, deja la aspiradora ahí mismo. |
Putting It Together
Sometimes, you need things done yourself and right now! You can use both forms of emphasis in the same sentence to really get your point across.
| You yourselves must arrange the closet this very day. | Ustedes mismos deben acomodar el armario hoy mismo. |
| She herself is going to shake out the rug this very day. | Ella misma va a sacudir la alfombra hoy mismo. |