Use “welcome” for a greeting or to describe being allowed; use “welcomed” for the act of greeting or being received.
You see welcome and welcomed in emails, signs, speeches, and thank-you replies. They look close, but they do not do the same job in a sentence. Once you spot the grammar role, the choice gets easy.
If you came here because you typed “are welcome or are welcomed?” into a search box, you are not alone here. This mix-up often shows up in lines like “You are welcome” and “You are welcomed,” where both sound polite, but only one fits the meaning you want.
| Phrase | Best Form | Use It When You Mean |
|---|---|---|
| You are welcome. | welcome | A polite reply to thanks. |
| You are welcome to join. | welcome | Permission: someone may do something. |
| Guests are welcome. | welcome | People are accepted or allowed in a place. |
| We welcomed the new students. | welcomed | A past action: you greeted someone. |
| The idea was welcomed by staff. | welcomed | A reaction: people received something well. |
| They felt welcomed at the event. | welcomed | How they were treated: they received a warm reception. |
| Welcome home! | welcome | A greeting said on arrival. |
| Your feedback is welcome. | welcome | You accept it gladly. |
Why This Mix Up Happens
Welcome is a flexible word. It can act as a verb (“We welcome guests”), an adjective (“Guests are welcome”), a noun (“a warm welcome”), or an interjection (“Welcome!”). That range is what trips people up.
Welcomed is narrower. It is the past form of the verb welcome, and it can also work as a past-participle adjective (“They felt welcomed”). So the choice is not about politeness. It is about tense and sentence structure.
Are Welcome Or Are Welcomed? In Common Situations
This section gives you a fast way to decide, using the sentence job each word is doing. Read the line once, then match it to the patterns below.
When “Welcome” Is The Right Choice
Use welcome when you are greeting someone, giving permission, or describing that someone is accepted or allowed.
- Greeting: “Welcome to our office.”
- Thanks reply: “You’re welcome.”
- Permission: “You’re welcome to ask questions.”
- Accepted or allowed: “Children are welcome here.”
- Glad to receive: “Your suggestions are welcome.”
When “Welcomed” Is The Right Choice
Use welcomed when you mean an action already happened, or you are describing how someone was received.
- Past action: “We welcomed the visitors at the door.”
- Past reaction: “The change was welcomed by the team.”
- How someone felt: “I felt welcomed at my first meeting.”
The Two Question Check
Ask these two questions. They point you to the right form quickly.
- Am I describing permission or acceptance right now? Pick welcome.
- Am I describing a past greeting or reception? Pick welcomed.
How “Welcome” Works In Four Grammar Roles
If you know the four main roles of welcome, you will stop guessing. You will also spot why “welcomed” cannot replace it in many lines.
Welcome As A Greeting
As a standalone greeting, welcome works like an interjection. It is the word you say when someone arrives, or the word you place at the start of an event.
In this role, you do not need a subject or a verb. “Welcome!” is complete on its own. “Welcomed!” is not used the same way.
Welcome As An Adjective
As an adjective, welcome means “accepted” or “allowed.” This is why signs often say “Guests are welcome” or “All are welcome.” It is describing a status, not an action.
When you write “You are welcome,” you are using the adjective pattern too. In a thanks reply, the full meaning is like “You are welcome to it” or “It is welcome.” The phrase has become a fixed polite response.
Welcome As A Verb
As a verb, welcome describes an action: you greet someone or you accept something gladly. In the present tense, you might write, “We welcome new students” or “They welcome feedback.”
Once that action moves into the past, the verb changes to welcomed. That is why “We welcomed new students yesterday” works, while “We welcome new students yesterday” does not.
Welcome As A Noun
As a noun, welcome is the greeting or reception itself. You might write, “They gave us a warm welcome” or “Please join us for a welcome reception.”
This noun role is another reason people hesitate. They see “a welcome” and assume “welcomed” can act the same way. It cannot. “A welcomed” is not a standard noun phrase.
What Dictionaries Say About “Welcome” And “Welcomed”
When a word can shift parts of speech, a dictionary entry can settle the grammar question. Merriam-Webster lists welcome as a verb, interjection, noun, and adjective, which matches how you see it used in real writing. You can skim the Merriam-Webster entry for “welcome” to see those roles laid out.
For welcomed, Cambridge labels it as the past simple and past participle of welcome. That label is the heart of most corrections in this topic. The Cambridge entry for “welcomed” shows that grammatical tag directly.
You’re Welcome Vs You’re Welcomed
This is where many writers pause. “You’re welcome” is a set reply to thanks. It signals that the help was gladly given and no extra debt is owed.
“You’re welcomed” points to an action done to you: someone welcomed you. It can fit in past-focused writing, but it sounds off as a reply to “thank you.” In day-to-day messages, it is almost never the line you want.
Common Lines That Sound Polite But Miss The Mark
- Better: “You’re welcome.” Not: “You’re welcomed.”
- Better: “You’re welcome to email me.” Not: “You’re welcomed to email me.”
- Better: “You are welcome here.” Not: “You are welcomed here.”
When “You’re Welcomed” Can Fit
Use “you’re welcomed” only when you are describing what happened to someone, not giving a thanks reply. Even then, many writers pick a clearer structure like “you were welcomed” or “they welcomed you.”
- “You were welcomed warmly when you arrived.”
- “I’m glad you were welcomed by the staff.”
Welcome To Vs Welcomed To
“Welcome to” is a greeting. It is what you say at the start of an event, or what you place on a sign at the door.
“Welcomed to” can work, but it needs a verb frame that shows someone did the welcoming: “They welcomed us to the office.” In that structure, welcomed is the past verb, and the “to” phrase names the place or group.
Clean Patterns You Can Copy
- “Welcome to the workshop.”
- “We welcome you to the workshop.”
- “We welcomed you to the workshop last week.”
Are “All Are Welcome” Signs Correct?
Yes, “All are welcome” is correct. Here, welcome works as an adjective that means “accepted” or “allowed.” The sentence is short, but the grammar is solid.
“All are welcomed” shifts the meaning. It describes an action: someone welcomed everyone. That can be true in a story about an event, but it is not the usual meaning on a sign.
Invitation Copy That Reads Smoothly
- “All are welcome.”
- “Families are welcome.”
- “New members are welcome to attend.”
Passive Voice: Was Welcomed
Passive voice shows up a lot with welcomed. You will see it in reports, meeting notes, and formal announcements: “The guest was welcomed” or “The proposal was welcomed.” These lines put the receiver first, not the doer.
In passive patterns, the past participle is doing the heavy lifting. That is why welcomed is common here, and why welcome usually fails in the same slot.
Fixing Passive Frames
- Draft: “The guest was welcome at the entrance.”
Fix: “The guest was welcomed at the entrance.” - Draft: “The idea was welcome across the department.”
Fix: “The idea was welcomed across the department.” - Draft: “The change is welcomed by staff.”
Fix: “The change is welcome” (adjective meaning accepted) or “The change was welcomed” (past reaction).
| Your Goal | Use This Form | Avoid This Form |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to “thank you” | You’re welcome. | You’re welcomed. |
| Greet people arriving | Welcome! | Welcomed! |
| Invite someone to do something | You’re welcome to + verb | You’re welcomed to + verb |
| Say people may attend | Guests are welcome. | Guests are welcomed. |
| Describe a past reception | They were welcomed warmly. | They were welcome warmly. |
| Describe a past action you did | We welcomed them. | We welcome them. (if past) |
| Describe a reaction to an idea | The plan was welcomed. | The plan was welcome. |
Fixing Real Sentences Step By Step
Below are common drafts that trigger edits. Each pair shows a clean revision, plus a quick reason. Read them as patterns, not as scripts you must copy word for word.
Emails And Messages
- Draft: “You are welcomed to reach out.”
Fix: “You are welcome to reach out.”
Why: This line is permission, not a past action. - Draft: “Your questions are welcomed.”
Fix: “Your questions are welcome.”
Why: You are describing acceptance. - Draft: “You’re welcomed.” (after thanks)
Fix: “You’re welcome.”
Why: Standard thanks reply.
Signs And Announcements
- Draft: “All are welcomed.” (on a poster)
Fix: “All are welcome.”
Why: Posters usually mean allowed, not were greeted. - Draft: “Students are welcomed in the lab.”
Fix: “Students are welcome in the lab.”
Why: This describes a rule or permission. - Draft: “Welcome to join us.”
Fix: “You’re welcome to join us.”
Why: Add the subject so the line is complete.
Reports And Formal Writing
- Draft: “The proposal is welcome by management.”
Fix: “The proposal was welcomed by management.”
Why: This is a past reaction, so you need the past form. - Draft: “The update was welcome by users.”
Fix: “The update was welcomed by users.”
Why: Passive verb patterns call for the past participle.
Common Mistakes That Keep Showing Up
These patterns pop up in student writing, work email, and signage. Once you spot them, you can fix them in a second.
- Using “welcomed” to mean permission: “You are welcomed to attend.”
- Using “welcome” when you need a past verb: “They were welcome by the host.”
- Leaving out the subject in invitations: “Welcome to join us.”
- Mixing a greeting with a past-tense frame: “Welcomed to our event!”
Quick Self Check For Tricky Cases
Some sentences can accept both forms, but the meaning shifts. Run this check, then choose the version that matches what you want to say.
- Is your sentence about rules, permission, or openness? Use welcome.
- Is your sentence about what happened at a past moment? Use welcomed.
- Are you describing a feeling after arrival? “Felt welcomed” is often the clearer pick.
A One Sentence Rule You Can Reuse
If you need a short note in your own writing guide, use this: “Choose welcome for greetings and permission, and welcomed for past actions or past reception.”
That rule handles most cases. It also answers the same search question that started this page: are welcome or are welcomed?