Lingoflyel mateix
- el mateixhimself
“el mateix” — himself in Valencian. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. The emphatic -self, any person: I saw it myself is jo mateix. It also means the same: el mateix — the same one. In a live sentence: “Ell mateix va fer el pastís” — He made the cake himself. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 27 words in the set “pronouns” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | el mateix |
| Translation | himself |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The emphatic -self, any person: I saw it myself is jo mateix. It also means the same: el mateix — the same one
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- joISpeakers usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo appears for emphasis
- tuyou (informal)People switch to tu quickly here — even with a shopkeeper. Moving to vostè signals distance, not default politeness
- vostèyou (polite)The polite «you» — for strangers and elders. Its verb is in the third person: «vostè és» — you are
- ellheWorks for things too when they are masculine — grammar follows the noun's gender, not its animateness
- ellasheThe plural elles is for women only; ells covers men and mixed company
- nosaltresweNo gender: one we for men and women alike — simpler here than in Spanish
- ellstheyells covers men and mixed company; elles is women only. One man is enough to pick ells
- el meumyThe masculine form; before a feminine noun it turns into la meua. Articles come with it, as with every noun
- el teuyour (informal)The tu counterpart. For a feminine thing: la teua — with the Valencian -ua ending
- el nostreourOurs, masculine. Feminine: la nostra. No extra article is needed before it
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “himself” in Valencian?
The emphatic -self, any person: I saw it myself is jo mateix. It also means the same: el mateix — the same one
- How do you say “they” in Valencian?
ells covers men and mixed company; elles is women only. One man is enough to pick ells
- How do you say “you (polite)” in Valencian?
The polite «you» — for strangers and elders. Its verb is in the third person: «vostè és» — you are
- How do you say “our” in Valencian?
Ours, masculine. Feminine: la nostra. No extra article is needed before it
- How do you say “we” in Valencian?
No gender: one we for men and women alike — simpler here than in Spanish
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “himself” in Valencian?
«el mateix». In a live sentence: “Ell mateix va fer el pastís” — He made the cake himself. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The emphatic -self, any person: I saw it myself is jo mateix. It also means the same: el mateix — the same one. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.