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Stephenlearner Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

You are welcome to something (a noun)

Hi,

I have studies the usage of welcome for hours, and received lots of help from native speakers. But I still have some doubts. So I come here to get a confirmation.

1)
Can you tell me the structure "you are welcome to something (a noun)" is grammatical or not?
An example sentence is : you are welcome to my car.
Some native speaker refuses to use it. For him, "you are welcome to use my car" is fine, but "you are welcome to my car" is not right.

2)
If "you are welcome to my car" is grammatical, does it mean differently from "you are welcome to use my car"?
Does it mean "you can have my car; it is yours" ? Also is there a implication that my car is not desirable for me now, so you can have it?

3) If "you are welcome to something" is grammatical, sentences like "you are welcome to Hong Kong" is also correct.
But natives don't use it because it means "you can own Hong Kong".

Do you agree with me ?

Any comments are welcome.

Thank you!
  

Top answer

Hi, I have studies the usage of welcome for hours, and received lots of help from native speakers. But I still have some doubts. So I come here to get a confirmation.

  • Hi, I have studies the usage of welcome for hours, and received lots of help from native speakers.
  • But I still have some doubts.
  • So I come here to get a confirmation.
  • 1) Can you tell me the structure " you are welcome to something (a noun)" is grammatical or not?
  • Yes.
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8 Answers
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Hi,

I have studies the usage of welcome for hours, and received lots of help from native speakers. But I still have some doubts. So I come here to get a confirmation.

1)
Can you tell me the structure "you are welcome to something (a noun)" is grammatical or not? Yes.
An example sentence is : you are welcome to my car
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Hi Stephen;

Please do not confuse the preposition "to" with the infinitive marker "to".

You are welcome to use (infinitive) my car. This is granting permission in a very friendly way. The meaning is close to: You may use my car. It is my honor to lend it to you.
Sometimes the infinitive phrase is omitted, and replaced with the prepositional phrase. The meaning
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Thank you for your answers, Clive.
For example, you come to visit me and I say 'You are welcome to my house'.
I think you are greeting me.
But when s
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Hi AlpheccaStars,

Thank you for your answers and explanation.
You also agree "you are welcome to my home" is correctly used when I greet somebody who arrives at my house, don't you?

Wow!
Why do natives disagree on this?
I asked another native speaker about this question. He strongly rejected "you are welcome to my home". He said it was weird.
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when somebody comes to visit me, shouldn't I say "welcome to my house"? Can "you are welcome to my house" used in this context? You can say either.
'You are welcome to my house' is more formal and less common.

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Thank you for your further answer.
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There is one further grammatical nuance.

The word "welcome" can be either a verb or adjective.

It was a welcome rain. (adjective, meaning "gratefully received")
The drought-stricken farmers welcomed the rain. (Verb form)

When you say "Welcome to my house." you are using the verb form.
When you say "You are welcome to my house." you are using the adj

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