Mismo

[cmon]

Am I using mismo correctly?

I built this house by myself.
Construí mismo esta casa.
Yo mismo construí esta casa.

I earned this scholarship on my own.
Gané esta beca por mi cuenta.
Yo mismo gané esta beca.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cmon

Am I using mismo correctly?

I built this house by myself.
Construí mismo esta casa. (Construí yo mismo esta casa. )
Yo mismo construí esta casa.

I earned this scholarship on my own.
Gané esta beca por mi cuenta. (But this doesn't use mismo)
Yo mismo gané esta beca.

See above.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by cmon

Am I using mismo correctly?

I built this house by myself.
Construí mismo esta casa.
Yo mismo construí esta casa.

I earned this scholarship on my own.
Gané esta beca por mi cuenta.
Yo mismo gané esta beca.

I know you're asking about the usage of mismo, but I'll give the best translation I can come up with for your examples, even if it doesn't use mismo.

I built this house by myself.
Construí esta casa yo solo.

I earned this scholarship on my own.
Yo gané esta beca solo.

Mismo means myself or same, but that's different from by myself.

[CrOtALiTo]

Perhaps this example cans help you.


Yo mismo gane mi carro.
Myself won my own car.

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Perhaps this example cans help you.


Yo mismo gane mi carro.
Myself won my own car.

Myself won my own car doesn't really make sense....shouldn't it be I, myself, won my own car, if mismo means same or myself.

[Tomisimo]

Mismo is translated in my own, so...

Yo mismo gane mi carro.
I earned my own car.
I won my own car.

[cmon]

I played my own piano.
Yo mismo toqué mi piano.

I played my piano alone.
Toqué mi piano solo.

I played my piano by myself.
Toqué mi piano yo solo.

I played my piano on my own.
Toqué mi piano por mi cuenta.

[Tomisimo]

I would have said:

I played my own piano.
Yo toqué mi propio piano.

I played my piano alone.
Toqué mi piano a solas.

I played my piano by myself.
Toqué mi piano yo solo.

I played my piano on my own.
Toqué mi piano yo solo.
Also, "by myself" is ambiguous- it could mean "alone" or "by myself".

The meaning of "por mi cuenta" is a bit different. It's more like "from me", or "on me".

Eso va por mi cuenta. = That's on me / I'm paying for it.
Lo hice por mi cuenta. = I did it on my own initiative. / I did it on my own time. / I took the initiative of doing it. / I took care of doing it.

[cmon]

Would mismo ever be used to emphasize that the speaker was proud of whatever he did?

I sang the song.
Canté la canción.
I sang the song. (Because I think I'm a great singer)
Yo mismo canté la canción.

[Rusty]

Yes. Yo mismo translates as I, myself, in that case.

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

Mismo is translated in my own, so...

Yo mismo gane mi carro.
I earned my own car.
I won my own car.

right, mismo is my own....I thought it was myself....well maybe in this case it's my own ?

[CrOtALiTo]

Then the word Yo mismo, would be translate as own, I don't understand because, it guess that should be translate as myself, this word mean yo mismo in English but you have said that not mean the same, then please, I have more doubt above the use and the mean of the noun, please could you explain me more above the use the that two words.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by jchen

right, mismo is my own....I thought it was myself....well maybe in this case it's my own ?

Yes, it can mean both.

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Then the word Yo mismo, would be translate as own, I don't understand because, it guess that should be translate as myself, this word mean yo mismo in English but you have said that not mean the same, then please, I have more doubt above the use and the mean of the noun, please could you explain me more above the use the that two words.

I did it myself.
I drive my own car.

How do you want us to explain?

[CrOtALiTo]

I already understand that.

[Jessica]

oh ok. What don't you understand then?

[CrOtALiTo]

You forget it.

[Rusty]

This is a good discussion. There may be differences about how mismo is used from place to place, but here are some of the ways I have learned to use it:

As an adjective, it means same.
Este mismo carro (coche mismo) es el que usó en la carrera. = This same car is the one he used in the race.
Este carro es el mismo que usó en la carrera. = This is the same car he used in the race.

It can be also be used to add emphasis.
Vivo en el mismo centro del país. = I live right in the center of the country.
El rey mismo apareció en el desfile. = The king himself appeared in the parade.

As an adverb, it emphasizes.
Hoy mismo te mando el cheque. = I'll send you the check today.
Ayer mismo lo vi. = I saw him just yesterday.

When coupled with a personal pronoun, it means self.
Yo mismo lo hice. = I did it myself.
Tú misma lo escribiste. = You wrote it yourself.
Él se lo dio a sí mismo. = He gave it to himself.

When coupled with a determiner, it means own.
Él se ilusiona con mudarse a su mismo apartamento. = He's excited about moving to his own apartment.

Things can get ambiguous in the third person if we don't use mismo. Have a look at these examples, in order of most clear to very ambiguous:
Él mismo pintó su mismo carro. = He himself painted his own car.
Él mismo pintó su carro. = He himself painted his car. (Whose car was painted?)
Él pintó su mismo carro. = He painted his own car.
Él pintó su carro. = He painted his car. (Who painted whose car?)

[literacola]

Also, I have learned that mismo can be used to say "right here/there" or "right now"

[CrOtALiTo]

I didn't know that, then I can to say right here mean Ahi mismo?, right now mean Ahora mismo, you tell me if my translate is accurate, or if I'm a mistakes in my text.