How to Say “Welcome” in Portuguese

Ways to say it

The Portuguese-speaking world uses these forms as a greeting to acknowledge someone's arrival. You can also use the phrase Dê as boas-vindas a to personalize a greeting by following it with a person's name, which translates to "Give a warm welcome to". To describe the act of greeting someone's arrival itself, the noun recepção is used, while the verbs dar as boas-vindas a, receber or acolher can be used to express the action of affirming or greeting an arrival.

What does it mean word for word?

The term is a compound of bem (well) and vindo (come), literally meaning "well-come".

Which one should you use?

Unlike the English word "welcome", the Portuguese forms function as adjectives and must change to agree in gender with the person being welcomed. bem-vindo! is the masculine form, while bem-vinda! is the feminine form.

Related words

Act of greeting someone's arrival (noun): recepção.

Affirm or greet the arrival of someone (verb): dar as boas-vindas a, receber, acolher.

How does it change in a sentence?

Gender and number agreement is required. Use the masculine plural form bem-vindos! when welcoming a group that includes at least one male. Use the feminine plural form bem-vindas! only when welcoming a group consisting entirely of females.

What mistakes should you avoid?

English speakers often forget to change the gender of the word to match the person they are addressing.