How to pronounce WELCOME (BIENVENUE) in French

 Have you ever noticed that WELCOME (BIENVENUE) in French changes its spelling? 

In this mini-lesson, you’ll discover how to say the word WELCOME (BIENVENUE) in French: 

• How to pronounce the word BIENVENUE in French
• How Bienvenue changes its spelling and why
• Great examples to help you get a more instant recall of the right version of WELCOME

How do you say welcome in French?

Do you want to know the easiest way to welcome someone in French? Oui? Super easy: just one word. This word is bienvenue.

Let’s deconstruct this word. It is made of 2 words: bien (good) and venue (arrival). Basically, you are saying to the person(s) that they arrived in good hands.

For pronunciation, be careful with the nasal sound and ignore the last letter.

The French bienvenue is the one you see on welcome mats. Its version is the feminine one. In the following sections, you’ll see its variations.

How to welcome someone in French.

First, you should know that there’s no French verb for “to welcome”. Instead, there’s a kind of expression. Indeed, we say “to wish the welcome to someone”.

• souhaiter la bienvenue à  >>> to welcome.

Therefore, you conjugate the regular verb of souhaiter in the first place like this:

• Je souhaite >>> I wish
• Tu souhaites >>> you wish
• Il / elle souhaite >>> s/he wishes
• Nous souhaitons >>> we wish
• Vous souhaitez >>> you wish
• Ils / elles souhaitent >>> they wish

Then you add “la bienvenue”. Finally, you should take into account the fact that is indirect.

What does it mean? It means you need the preposition “à” or the proper pronoun.

Let’s play with examples with the preposition:

• Je souhaite la bienvenue à la mariée  >>> Welcome to the bride.
• Il souhaite la bienvenue à Marie  >>> He welcomes Marie.
• Tu souhaites la bienvenue à l’artiste  >>> You welcome the artist.
• Je souhaite la bienvenue au président  >>> Welcome to the president.
• Ils souhaitent la bienvenue aux touristes  >>> They welcome the tourists.

As you can see, the preposition à requires changes if it’s masculine (au), plural (aux), or if the word starts with a vowel or h (à l’). 

The general way to welcome someone in a French-speaking country.

This time, let’s see what happens with pronouns. As a reminder, a pronoun tends to be placed before your verb.

• Il me souhaite la bienvenue  >>> He welcomes me.
• Il te souhaite la bienvenue  >>> He welcomes you.
• Ils lui souhaite la bienvenue  >>> They welcome her/him.
• Il nous souhaite la bienvenue  >>> He welcomes us.
• Je vous souhaite la bienvenue  >>> Welcome!
• Elle leur souhaite la bienvenue  >>> She welcomes them.

To welcome someone in  French you need the subjunctive.

Imagine you talk directly to the person to welcome them. As we mentioned, you can say “bienvenue”. However, you can personalise it a little with the verb that indicates you are talking directly to the person.

In that case, you want the subjunctive. The good news is that you need to remember it for 2 situations: either it’s formal or informal.

• sois le bienvenu >>> (informal with tu)  Welcome!
• soyez le bienvenu >>> (formal with vous) Welcome!

Be careful though because this structure is only for the masculine and singular. Let’s have a look at the feminine in the next section.

And if you want to explore more the subjunctive, I have this mini-lesson for you and this one. 

How to welcome a female in French.

As usual in French, an agreement is requested. If you wish to welcome a woman, you’ll say the following: 

• sois la bienvenue >>> (informal with tu)  Welcome!
• soyez la bienvenue  >>> (formal with vous) Welcome!

Welcoming more than one person? No problem! I’m showing how in the next part.

How to welcome several people in French.

To welcome men or many women and one man together, the masculine plural will be like this: 

• soyez les bienvenus  >>> Welcome!

The only option to welcome women…

And for women, the structure is this one: 

• soyez les bienvenues  >>> Welcome!

Note that “bienvenu”, “bienvenue”, “bienvenus” or “bienvenues” share the exact same pronunciation.

The main difference will reside in the article “la”, “le” and “les”.

Never translate word for word, but the idea!

Oui, Google translator is great but non, it’s not 100% reliable. if you translate what we just saw, you’ll get this: 

• soyez les bienvenues  >>> A warm welcome

• A warm welcome  >>> un accueil chaleureux.    LOOK HOW IT DEVIATES

My point is that you should never translate word for word but translate the idea. The goal of these mini-lessons is to share with you real examples and explain what lies behind the French words and expressions.

In conclusion, I hope that you know how to use bienvenue and its variations depending on the context, on the gender and number.

By the way, bienvenue in Canada means you are welcome!

You can always send me your examples to show me that you know how to apply the words. Feel free to contact me!