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Is English the only language to use "You're welcome"?

I've read on a few websites that English is the only language where it's accepted to say, "You're welcome" in response to someone thanking you.

Other languages tend to use variances of "it was nothing", for example:

  • Spanish - "De nada"
  • French - "De rien"
  • Swedish - "Det var så lite"
  • Japanese - "どういたしまして"

All of which are variants on "it was nothing" or "don't mention it".

Is it true that English is the only language where a thank you is met with an acknowledgement that something was done?

Chuck
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    Related, possible duplicate : http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152941/where-did-the-phrase-youre-welcome-come-from – Mr. Black Oct 12 '15 at 13:06
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    Actually the same expression in Italian "sei il benvenuto" is used at times, in response to thanks from guests, or also for having done a favour. It sounds a bit 'formal', but it is used. http://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano/B/benvenuto.php – Mr. Black Oct 12 '15 at 13:18
  • German commonly has 'Bitte schon" in response to 'Danke schon'. I am not a fluent German speaker by any means, but I always took 'Bitte schon' to have the same conversational value as 'You're welcome'... –  Oct 12 '15 at 13:28
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    @MarvMills - I think OP is referring to the literal expression, "you are welcome" rather than its meaning. – Mr. Black Oct 12 '15 at 13:34
  • @Josh61 But Wiktionary says that 'bitte schon' means "you're very welcome": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bitte_sch%C3%B6n –  Oct 12 '15 at 13:41
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    Does it mean 'you are welcome' literally ? I think that is the point OP wants to make. – Mr. Black Oct 12 '15 at 13:43
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    @Josh61 No idea, that's beyond my ken for German, but neither does 'you're welcome' literally mean "an acknowledgement that something was done" (see OP's question) - So either we are talking about literal translations or equivalent meanings. I am not convinced the OP has successfully defined which... –  Oct 12 '15 at 13:45
  • German also uses "gern geschehen" (Dutch: "graag gedaan"), which is closer to "you're welcome". – reinierpost Oct 12 '15 at 13:48
  • Russian "пожалуйста" has the same meaning as "you're welcome". It also has "не за что" which has closer meaning to your examples ("it was nothing"). – Vilmar Oct 12 '15 at 14:03
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    I'd suggest this question is off topic. It has little to do with English and is entirely about translation and other languages. What is more, when you combine the uncertainties off interpretation, the answers become rather subjective. –  Oct 12 '15 at 14:26
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    I think it isn't off the topic. I think it's out of curiosity. And it's good to know the languages that are similar to each other in using the phrase. –  Oct 12 '15 at 14:46
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    Danish velbekomme – Henry Oct 12 '15 at 15:24
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    French also has je vous en prie. – Drew Oct 12 '15 at 15:58
  • @Josh61 I'm here wondering what 'you are welcome' itself means literally in English. I know what it means idiomatically, but literally? Before you can figure out what the literal (i.e. non-idiomatic) translation into other languages is, I think you'd have to outline the bounds of what is (and is not) the literal translation into English, for this particular context. –  Oct 12 '15 at 17:28
  • Swedish speakers almost never say "det var ingenting", but one of "det var så lite" (it was so little) or "ingen orsak" ("[there was] no cause [for you to thank me]") or "varsågod" ("be so good/kind [as to do this X]", e.g. "please take a cup of coffee", now used as a response to "thanks") –  Oct 12 '15 at 17:35
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs on another site (in the Stack Exchange network, probably linguistics). And I'm rather concerned by the 4 upvotes for Jodrell's comment but no close-votes for the question. –  Oct 12 '15 at 21:54
  • In Portuguese, there's "disponha". –  Oct 13 '15 at 02:34
  • @EdwinAshworth How do you CV as off-topic for another site that is not listed? –  Oct 13 '15 at 02:36
  • I'd like to add a language whose response is neither "no problem" nor "you're welcome to (ask me for) my help" -- in Malay the response is "sama sama" (literally: same-same but doubling of words is a syntactic feature of Malay grammar so it's more like "same here"). I guess it means "and I similarly thank you for thanking me" – slebetman Oct 13 '15 at 03:01
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    Just wanted to point out that the usual Japanese term is not いいえ as above (that's just "no") but どういたしまして, douitashimashite, which is usually translated as "you're welcome" but more literally is something like a humble "it was the least I could do". –  Oct 13 '15 at 06:27
  • No one's mentioned this, so I will. Although the British are familiar with this type of friendly acknowledgement, "You're welcome" is far more common in the US than it is in the UK. –  Oct 13 '15 at 06:34
  • I think the OP's supposition has been proved overwhelmingly wrong. Do we need to add every single language on earth which uses a phrase similar or identical to "you're welcome"? Hasn't the point been made clear enough? Voting to close because it is too broad –  Oct 13 '15 at 06:51
  • The question title is ambiguous, users are still posting what they say in their language, instead of answering the question which is in the body. It was interesting for the first four different languages but now it's becoming silly. Some will post their answers in Hindi, Korean, Chinese, Latvian and Thai soon. –  Oct 13 '15 at 09:51
  • @Mari-LouA You just acknowledged that the question has been answered definitively... how can you then vote to close based on the idea that it's "too broad" to be answered? :-/ –  Oct 13 '15 at 09:54
  • @Kroltan There is an option to add a reason; it doesn't mean you can't include a reason related to one in the databank. –  Oct 13 '15 at 11:13
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    I understand that Bienvenue is used in Canadian French, so even your examples include a language which (in some regions at least) use the form. – Jon Hanna Oct 13 '15 at 11:48
  • As mentioned in another comment, French also has Je vous en prie. Italian uses Prego. Both would loosely translate to "Please." –  Oct 13 '15 at 13:29
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    Possible duplicate of Is there any language which doesn't have "hello", "thank you" or "please"? – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine Oct 13 '15 at 16:45

22 Answers22

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As the other answers show, English is not the only language with this phrase, but we can examine the etymology of it to explain what it means.

When did this usage start?

The OED has

3d. A polite formula used in response to an expression of thanks,

with the first citation in 1907.

How did it originate? It is a natural extension of the use

3a. Freely permitted or allowed, cordially invited,

with the first citation from ca. 1400.

To see how 3d evolved from 3a, consider this exchange (from Google books, 1839)

“Do you really” – exclaimed Theophan, his voice trembling with joyful surprise – “do you really say so! – what shall I – how can I sufficiently thank you?”

“It matters not,” said the old man. “you are welcome to it.”

So we can see that "you're welcome" probably came from something akin to "it's nothing -- you're welcome to it". This changes its meaning from, "I'm acknowledging that I did you a favour" to a more generous sense of giving that's found in other responses like "it's nothing".

Why isn't this usage found in French (for example)?

I don't believe French has an adjective with the exact meaning of 3a. Looking up welcome in the Larousse English-French dictionary, they paraphrase all uses with meaning 3a. For example:

you're welcome to anything you need,

is translated as:

servez-vous si vous avez besoin de quelque chose
(help yourself if you have need of something).

Community
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Peter Shor
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    regarding the French... it is not chic to be overly polite. –  Oct 12 '15 at 21:32
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    This validly addresses the valid question hidden in OP's largely off-topic query. –  Oct 12 '15 at 21:58
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    The formal French for you're welcome is "je vous en prie", which means roughly "I beg it of you". While this doesn't translate well into English, I think the general point of view is that the speaker who did the favor is putting himself in a humble position. –  Oct 12 '15 at 22:20
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    Also, @Peter Shor, thanks for the etymological info. I was surprised to see that the formula only dates to about 1900. When you trace the true meaning of the expression, you see that "you're welcome" is really a nod of the head and a downplaying of the favor that was done-- "you're welcome to it", please help yourself, it's yours, etc. This really contradicts Django's thesis that "you're welcome" is about "acknowledging that something was done", or in other words, owning up to the favor and proudly accepting gratitude. –  Oct 12 '15 at 22:26
  • Is there any chance that well-come in this context was initially--that is, before the quote which implies otherwise--might have meant you are well behaved, well raised, acknowledging that the thanks was maybe unexpected, utmost polite or whatever. This is essentially the underlying sense of welcome, bienvenido, by stretch of the imagination, although going further back, the etymology may be more intricate than a surface analysis (cp. become). However, I was specifically thinking of German adverbial Phrase wohl geraten (said of children). – vectory Oct 22 '20 at 07:23
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In Arabic, we sometimes use phrases such as: "أهلا" (read: 'ahlan') or "هلا بيك" (read: 'hala beek') in informal Arabic exactly meaning "you're welcome".

That means that not only English uses the phrase. In Arabic it's common too.

Source: Arabic is my mother-tongue (I speak English very well too).

  • Nice to see an Arabic perspective :) If I may add, the question was specifically asking "in response to someone thanking you", and "ahlan" is not normally used in that context (as far as I know). The normal response in Arabic is "Afwan" (عفوا) or "La shukr ala wajeb" (لا شكر على واجب), the latter actually being closer to "it was nothing" or "don't mention it" that OP mentioned. What you are looking for might be closer to something like (على الرحب والسعة), which I suppose could mean "you're welcome". –  Oct 12 '15 at 15:48
  • Or "Wala yhemmak" (ولا يهمك), which means "Don't worry about it", if you want to be informal. As you and I both know, the possibilities are endless :D –  Oct 12 '15 at 15:55
  • @Nasser: It's not as common as the varieties you mention, but I've definitely had people (native speakers of Arabic) respond to شكرا with أهلا وسهلا بك. –  Oct 12 '15 at 16:33
  • In the Gulf, we say Afwahn, in response to "thanks," which does not directly translate to "you are welcome." –  Oct 12 '15 at 17:54
  • This quite succinctly proves the original supposition wrong (as do all the other answers on this page)... but as it was first. Thanks! –  Oct 13 '15 at 09:57
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    In British English, (at least, fifty years ago, when I was growing up) the standard answer to thanks was don't mention it or not at all. "You're welcome" was a funny thing that Americans said. – Colin Fine Oct 13 '15 at 17:10
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Visiting Quebec I heard "vous êtes bienvenue" a good few times! I assumed this to have entered the language from English, but this is a part of the world that's very proud of its French heritage (to the extent that the stop signs read "Arrêt", which isn't even the case in France).

It's not easy to find online (as it also works in the sense of "You're welcome to visit our hotel") but this Québecois dictionary gives "Bienvenue!" at least.

Chris H
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    Born in Québec (and still living here), I never said or heard "Vous êtes bienvenue" but instead directly "Bienvenue" as the dictionary you linked suggest. Still, few people use it. +1 for pointing at our "Arrêt/Stop" sign ;) –  Oct 13 '15 at 13:09
  • Being particular about the French language and using word-for-word translations from English might appear slightly inconsistent but that's the way it is in Quebec. By contrast, many of those constructs are unknown in France but English words are more frequently borrowed directly, often with a slightly different meaning. (+1 very interesting in any case) – Relaxed Oct 13 '15 at 13:35
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    @Relaxed Note that we have the "Loi 101" which aim to OCDly traduct everything word-for-word in french to "protect" our legacy (lol) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language – Jean-François Savard Oct 13 '15 at 13:42
  • @Jean-FrançoisSavard, IIRC "Bienvenue" was more common. It was a few years ago, but (especially as I regularly visit France) the literal-translation was remarkable enough to stick in my memory. What didn't stick is the situation, but 2 hypotheses (not mutually-exclusive): (i) Montréal airport where the bilingual staff seemed more likely to be thinking in English (compared to Québec city and further East); (ii) Repetition in response to my blank expression at "bienvenue" as a response to "merci". – Chris H Oct 13 '15 at 14:17
  • @Jean-FrançoisSavard what really caught me out was in the hospitality business where familiar French phrases carried the meaning they do adopted into US English, rather than their meaning in European French. – Chris H Oct 13 '15 at 14:19
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    @ChrisH That's right, Montréal differ a lot from Québec city (I'm from Québec city btw). Not only airport staff, you'll meet way more people that speaks english usually in Montréal rather than Québec. I'm curious, do you have any example of your second comment ? One thing to note is that while some things are over translated everywhere, it is worse when written then speaking. For example, very few people will say "Un arrêt"... Most of people will say "Un stop". – Jean-François Savard Oct 13 '15 at 14:33
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    @Jean-FrançoisSavard, I'll try to come up with something (I'll replace this somment if I can jog my memory). We were (btw) mostly on the Gaspésie, only spending a day in Québec city and passing through Montréal on the way to/from the airport – Chris H Oct 13 '15 at 14:44
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A common phrase in Bulgarian is "Pak Zapoviadai" (Пак Заповядай) which translates to "You're Welcome" (to come again). When the words are separated and translated literally it has the meaning of "Come Again",but, when spoken it is used as a phrase which means "You're Welcome", since "Zapovqdai" literally means "Welcome"

  • So when someone thanks you, you can respond "You're welcome to come again"? –  Oct 12 '15 at 16:34
  • (To come again) is really only implied, not stated in this phrase. I edited my answer to add a little more detail. –  Oct 12 '15 at 16:37
  • And people use that phrase when they've been thanked? Eg. "Thanks for sending me that CD." "You're welcome." –  Oct 12 '15 at 16:37
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    Absolutely. It is the most common phrase used when replying to someone thanking you. We do have different phrases, such as, "it's nothing", however those aren't used as often. –  Oct 12 '15 at 16:39
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    @DjangoReinhardt: In English, "You're welcome" also has the (to come again) implied. "You're welcome" means "You're welcome to my help" – slebetman Oct 13 '15 at 03:03
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In my native Russian, a standard reply to 'Спасибо' (thank you) is 'Пожалуйста' which is probably rooted in something similar to 'you are welcome'.

"не за что" (it is nothing) can also be used, but it not as common.

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    Пожалуйста also acts like the word please right? In that sense, it doesn't really fit? –  Oct 12 '15 at 23:12
  • @VenomFangs Yes, it also acts like please (and frankly, if no context is given, please is the first meaning that comes to mind), but not when replying to 'thank you.' It is also used to politely agree to a request. –  Oct 13 '15 at 00:53
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    So it functions exactly as the German Bitte, which means "Please" or "You're welcome" as appropriate. – Andrew Leach Oct 13 '15 at 11:14
  • The same pattern is used in the Greek "Παρακαλώ". It means both "please" and "you're welcome". Curiously, I've also heard it used as a greeting when answering the phone. –  Oct 13 '15 at 11:23
  • It would be ionteresting to dig into the etymology here. Is it related to Пожли (Let's go)? –  Oct 13 '15 at 12:56
  • @HagenvonEitzen- no, it is not related to "пошли", but to "пожаловать" (to grant) – J-mster Oct 13 '15 at 14:58
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In German (which is my mother-tongue) you might say "Gern geschehen" which roughly translates to "It's a pleasure" wiktionary. There are also other responses to thank you which can be found here. Some of them are:

  • "Bitte gerne" (also, more or less "my pleasure")

  • "Bitte (schön)" (I'm not realy able to properly translate this into English)

But there are also phrases that mean "it was nothing" or "don't mention it":

  • "Nichts zu danken" (roughly translates to "Nothing to thank me for")

  • "Keine Ursache" (translates to "No problem")

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    But there is no expression like "Du bist (mir) willkommen!" in German. Most likely you would not even be understood. –  Oct 12 '15 at 15:17
  • that's true but the question was if English is the only language were you don't only say "it was nothing" or "don't mention it" and as far as I understand in German there are also other ways. Like "Bitte gerne" and "Bitte schön". I will edit the answer to make the point clearer. –  Oct 12 '15 at 15:21
  • Also "Bitte sehr". "You are very welcome". –  Oct 12 '15 at 15:39
  • I thought "Bitte" translates literally to "please" much like the Russian version. – March Ho Oct 13 '15 at 09:31
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In Lithuanian we have a word 'prašau' or 'prašom', which is the usual word said in response to Lithuanian 'thank you'. While it literally means something along the lines of 'I'm asking you', it can be used to invite someone to your house, or, say, to a table.

Story time! As you are anxiously waiting for the pizza you ordered - it should be any minute now - you hear your doorbell ring. You fling the door open, and indeed there is a delivery man with your pizza. As you go through your pockets to find the one where your put your pizza money in, you notice that it is snowing quite heavily outside. You wave your hand as if you are showing something lying on that shoe shelf to your left without turning and say 'prašom'. Upon hearing that, he man steps in with a smile, trying not to move too much, not wanting to drop any of that snow from his shoulders and beanie in your house. You finally hand him the money, with a generous tip too! It is because you are feeling great today - energetic, happy, wanting to do good, it is one of those days when everything feels right. The man's eyes stop at you for a second, but realizing he's almost staring, he quickly goes to his wallet to get your change. You raise both your hands with palms facing the delivery man and shake them a little, almost like trying to push him away telekinetically. The man's smile widens and he thanks you. You tell him 'prašau'.

You only used one word twice, first time asking someone to come in (welcoming someone in?), and second time as a response to thank-you.
Maybe this is the elusive connection between the two ways of using the 'welcome'? :D

Vykintas
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    I'm from Czech an we do exactly the same thing. It's prosím [praw-seem], though, not prašom, but the usages of the two seem to be completely identical. At least as far as I can tell from your little story. –  Oct 13 '15 at 00:31
  • Exactly the same in Polish. Even tough we often say "Nie ma sprawy" (No problem) to "thank you", we can also say "proszę" /prɔʂɛ̃/. The second one is prefered in a formal conversation. – Arsen Oct 13 '15 at 15:07
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In Afrikaans, we say "jy's welkom" ("You're welcome") in response to "Dankie" ("Thank you").

  • Not quite. The standard response to "dankie" ("thank you") is "plesier" ("pleasure" - lit. "it was a pleasure")

    I quite honestly cannot think of a single instance where any native Afrikaans speaker would reply with "jy's welkom".

     – player.mdl Dec 14 '15 at 20:38
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Korean has chun-man-ei-yo (sorry, I got some error trying to enter Korean letters in SE), which means (I would do it) 1000 (times) 10000 times. Thus it could be interpreted as closer to "It was my pleasure" than the denial of having done anything.

Also, in Japanese どういたしまして (dou-itashimashite) isn't literally the negation of having done anything. It is more like "what I have done," which etymologically possibly comes from a reply like "What have I done?" (semi-denial?).

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In Quebecois French, in Eastern Canada, we say "Bienvenue," which means "[You're] Welcome," though it's likely this is an adoption of the English phrase since this is not used in France, AFAIK.

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Let me add "ole hyvä" from Finnish, which means, literally, "be good."

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    That's weird. Sounds as if your were admonishing the person who's thanking you. :D –  Oct 13 '15 at 00:33
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    @PSkocik Probably closer to "Be well" than "Don't be bad". –  Oct 13 '15 at 09:15
  • But "Be good" doesn't answer the question about using "You're welcome" or "Don't mention it". It's something completely different (just used in the same way). – Andrew Leach Oct 13 '15 at 11:16
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In my mother tongue (Persian) we use the expression "خواهش میکنم" which we only use it in response to someone thanking us. We have lots of these expressions in Persian like "قابل شما رو نداشت", "نفرمایید", etc.

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    This answer does not specify what the equivalent meaning of the phrases are (e.g. how would you translate the constituent words into English?), and what makes them close to "you're welcome" and not like the "no problem" examples given. –  Oct 12 '15 at 17:32
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    You need to translate the Persian expression in English. I hate to downvote this answer, it seems two people who speak Persian agree with you, but I'm half Italian and English and I don't understand your language. This is afterall a website about English. –  Oct 12 '15 at 18:54
  • http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/persian-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B4-%D9%85%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%86%D9%85.1594519/ –  Oct 12 '15 at 18:58
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In Mandarin Chinese, we do say something along the lines of you're welcome: bu kuh-chi. It's not exactly "no problem" because that would be mei wen-ti. Although both phrases can be used in response to "thank you," the first one is more popular, and is closer in meaning to "you're welcome" than the other.

Sorry about the spelling out out the characters in English if they're not correct, and about any missing accents.

Source: I grew up in a Mandarin Chinese speaking household; my parents both speak it.

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Czech also acknowledges that something was done. Our expression for that is prosím [praw-seem] (which incidentally happens to be the same word as our "please" but it takes a completely different meaning in this context). It's even more "just an acknowledgement" than "you're welcome" is.

You can also go with "není zač" (=there's nothing to thank for (it was nothing)), which I think is a little nicer.

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No, English is not the only language to acknowledge a thank you. In Spanish, as an alternative to "de nada" it is not uncommon to respond to a thank you with "cuando sea", which translates to "anytime", directly acknowledging that something was done.

2

In Myanmar, we use "YaBarTae" which means you are welcome.

2

In Slovak language, we usually use 3 ways to respond on "Thank you":

  1. "Nemáš za čo" - there is nothing to thank for - probably most common
  2. "Prosím" - this is similar to "not at all", while in other cases it is used for "please". It is probably not the most common, but most official
  3. "Radosť sa stalo" - it was a pleasure

4th, but not very used way can be found: "Bolo mi potešením" - similar to "Radosť sa stalo", but with a bit noble accent. Seems not to be very suited within close relationships.

Reconquistador
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In Danish we also use the word: "Velbekomme" As a formal acknowledgement of a thank you, and its translation in this context to English, would be the same as how "you're welcome" is used. Even if it doesn't have a word-to-word translation.

"It was nothing" is also a common in Danish in line with the Swedish mentioned in the question post, as well.

Fun fact; As with most Danish words it carries multiple usages, so it's also the word used to wish "Bon appetite" or as a sarcastic "you're welcome" or "thank you very much" reply-type statement.

Context is everything in Danish :)

Allan S. Hansen
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  • Velbekomme is completely unrelated to ‘you’re welcome’. It literally means ‘may it become [you] well’, that is, ‘I hope it serves you well’ – completely unrelated to velkommen ‘welcome’. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 12 '20 at 16:28
  • It is used in a multiple ways. Amongst others as a reply when somebody thanks you - aka in the context of the original post. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=velbekomme – Allan S. Hansen Oct 13 '20 at 09:00
  • I know what it means, and I know how it’s used. The question is asking whether other languages use phrases that mean ‘you are welcome’ (= [du er] velkommen) as a formulaic reply to ‘thank you’; it’s not asking for the equivalent of ‘you’re welcome’ in other languages. Velbekomme is not what’s being asked about here, because it doesn’t mean anything related to ‘welcome’. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 13 '20 at 09:05
  • I'm unsure of the contention - definition #3 in the link provide in my comment covers the exact example. 'Velbekomme' is used as an acknowledgement of effort as reply to a thank you, as the original posts ask; as opposed to the (also used) 'it is nothing' type replies. – Allan S. Hansen Oct 13 '20 at 09:16
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A typical dialog in Russian somewhere in shop may be:
- Дайте, пожалуйста, вот это. (Give me please this one)
- Пожалуйста, возьмите. (Here you go or in literal translation Please take it)
- Спасибо. (Thank you)
- Пожалуйста. (You are welcome)

You can see how meanings vary. So in certain context пожалуйста is supposed to be treated as you are welcome and not please.

qmaq
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Since you mentioned it in your question, a few remarks about French use, based on my intuition as a native speaker and experience in various French-speaking countries.

Acknowledging thanks is not nearly as common in French as it is in English or German. Consequently there is no set phrase to do it and “de rien”, which is indeed pretty common, does not sound polite or elegant to me. Personally, when speaking French, I'd rather say nothing or, if I really have to react, say something ad hoc that explains precisely why I was happy to do something, return a favour, etc. or why it was not so much bother.

There are many other phrases that are occasionally heard in this situation. The most formal one would be “Je vous en prie” (literally “I beg you”) but I have heard “s'il-te-plait” (literally “please”, only used in that way in the east of France, presumably after the German “Bitte”), “à votre service” or simply “service” and “avec plaisir”. The last three sound a bit old-fashioned and are perhaps more common in Belgium than in France but they seem pretty close to “you're welcome” in that they do imply that something substantial was done.

In light of all this, it seems that there might not be such a big difference between French and English after all.

Relaxed
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In Hebrew, we say "בבקשה" (Behvakasha) which literally translates to something along the lines of "as per your request".
Another word that has recently entered usage as a reply to "Thank you" is "בכיף" (Behkayf) which means "with pleasure".

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In Turkish we reply with "Önemli değil" or "Birşey değil" which means, "It's not important" in English.