Welcome in Arabic: Ahlan wa Sahlan, the Reply, and Every Dialect

Quick answer The standard way to say welcome in Arabic is ahlan wa sahlan (أهلاً وسهلاً), which hosts, shopkeepers and signs use from Morocco to Iraq. The guest answers ahlan bīk to a man, ahlan bīki to a woman, or ahlan bīkum to a group: "welcome to you." Don't mix it up with "you're welcome" after a thank-you, which is ʿafwan (عفواً).

Few words carry as much weight in Arabic as "welcome." Hospitality is close to a point of honor across the Arab world, and the language reflects it: a guest is welcomed when they arrive, welcomed again when they sit down, and often a third time when the tea comes. If you only know the word and not the reply, you will spend a lot of time smiling and nodding.

This guide covers the standard phrase and what it literally means, the replies, how the words change for a man, a woman or a group, the forms you will hear in Egypt, the Levant, the Gulf and Morocco, and the situations phrase lists skip: welcoming someone into your home, welcoming a traveler back, and the sign at the airport.

A note on spelling: "ḥ" is a breathy h from the throat, "gh" is a gargled sound like a French r, and "ʿ" stands for the letter ʿayn (ع), a squeeze in the throat. A line over a vowel (ā, ī) means it is long.

How to say welcome in Arabic: ahlan wa sahlan

Ahlan wa sahlan (أهلاً وسهلاً) is two words joined by wa, "and." Ahl (أهل) means family or people, and sahl (سهل) means easy, or flat, open ground. The traditional explanation is that the phrase is short for something like "you have come to your people, and you tread on easy ground": you are among family here, and nothing will be hard for you. Whether or not every speaker thinks of that when they say it, the feeling is exactly right.

Pronounce it AH-lan wa SAH-lan, with a clear h in both words. In everyday speech it often runs together as ahlan w sahlan, and in the Levant it is frequently shortened to ahla w sahla. The short form ahlan (أهلاً) on its own is also very common, and it doubles as a friendly "hi."

The second word you will hear constantly is marḥaba (مرحبا). In much of the Levant it is simply "hello," but its root idea is welcoming someone with open space, and in Morocco and the Gulf it is very much a word of welcome. In formal Arabic you will see marḥaban bikum (مرحباً بكم), "welcome to you all," on websites, in speeches and at the start of a TV program.

The reply: ahlan bīk

Like most Arabic greetings, welcome comes in a pair. Someone welcomes you, and you answer by sending the welcome back:

• Ahlan bīk (أهلاً بيك) to a man: "welcome to you."
• Ahlan bīki (أهلاً بيكي) to a woman.
• Ahlan bīkum (أهلاً بيكم) to a group.

You can also repeat the whole phrase and add bīk: ahlan wa sahlan bīk. In the Levant, people often answer with ahlēn (أهلين), literally "two welcomes," the same playful doubling as marḥabtēn ("two hellos") in reply to marḥaba. Arabic replies like to give back a little more than they received, a pattern you will see all through our guide to Arabic greetings and responses.

If you are the host and the guest answers ahlan bīk, you have nothing more to say. The exchange is complete, and the next step is usually an invitation to sit down.

Tfaḍḍal: the word that follows welcome

Right after ahlan wa sahlan, a host almost always says tfaḍḍal (تفضل) to a man, tfaḍḍali to a woman, or tfaḍḍalu to a group. It means "please, go ahead": come in, sit down, help yourself, take this. It is how you offer a chair, a cup of tea or the first bite of food. As a guest, a simple shukran is the right answer. If you want to go further, our guide to thank you in Arabic has the warmer versions.

Welcome to a man, a woman, or a group

The phrase ahlan wa sahlan itself never changes. What changes is the little ending when you add "to you," because Arabic marks gender and number on "you." In Modern Standard Arabic, the formal written language, it looks like this:

• To a man: ahlan wa sahlan bika (أهلاً وسهلاً بكَ), marḥaban bika
• To a woman: ahlan wa sahlan biki (أهلاً وسهلاً بكِ), marḥaban biki
• To a group: ahlan wa sahlan bikum (أهلاً وسهلاً بكم), marḥaban bikum

In the spoken dialects the endings shift slightly, as in the reply above: bīk, bīki, bīkum. If you are unsure, the plain ahlan wa sahlan is never wrong. It works for one person or fifty, and that is why it is printed on so many doormats and shop windows.

Welcome in Arabic dialects

Ahlan wa sahlan is understood everywhere, but every region has its own favorite way to make a guest feel at home. If you want to see how a full sentence changes from one dialect to the next, try our free Arabic dialect translator.

Egyptian Arabic

Egyptians say ahlan wa sahlan and ahlan bīk all day long. The phrase that sounds most Egyptian, though, is nawwart (نوّرت) to a man or nawwarti to a woman: "you lit up the place." A host says it when you walk in, and the polite answer is da nūrak ("that's your light") to a man or da nūrik to a woman. It is warm, a little flattering, and very typical of how Egyptian replies try to top the phrase they answer. Our guide on how to learn Egyptian Arabic has more of these everyday expressions.

Levantine Arabic

In Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine you will hear ahla w sahla, ahlan and marḥaba, answered with ahlēn or marḥabtēn. Hosts often add il-bēt bētak (البيت بيتك), "the house is your house," or il-bēt bētik to a woman. Our comparison of Egyptian and Levantine Arabic shows how far the two drift apart in daily speech.

Gulf Arabic

In Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar the everyday welcome is hala (هلا), short for ahlan, often stretched into hala wallah. The classic warm version is hala wa ghala (هلا وغلا), roughly "welcome, and you are dear to us," because ghāli means precious. You will hear hala in Jordan and Iraq too. There is more on the region in our guide to Gulf Arabic.

Moroccan Darija

Moroccans welcome you with mrḥba bik (مرحبا بيك), and mrḥba bikum to a group. Darija uses the same "you" ending for a man and a woman here, so bik works for both. It is the Darija form of marḥaba, with the short vowels dropped the way Darija drops them everywhere. You will also hear it as a reply when you thank someone. Our guide on how to learn Moroccan Arabic explains why the dialect sounds so compressed at first.

Welcome for special situations

Some welcomes have their own phrase. Knowing them is a quick way to sound like you have spent time with Arabic speakers rather than a phrasebook.

Welcome to our home

In formal Arabic, a host can say ahlan wa sahlan fī baytinā (أهلاً وسهلاً في بيتنا), "welcome to our home." In conversation, people are more likely to say ahlan wa sahlan, then tfaḍḍal, then il-bēt bētak. In Egypt, nawwart il-bēt, "you lit up the house," does the same job.

Welcome to a country or a city

Just add fī ("in") and the place: ahlan wa sahlan fī maṣr (welcome to Egypt), ahlan wa sahlan fī l-urdun (welcome to Jordan), ahlan wa sahlan fī l-maghrib (welcome to Morocco). This is the version on airport signs and hotel boards, often printed as marḥaban bikum or ahlan wa sahlan bikum. If someone says it to you on arrival, ahlan bīk and a smile is all you need.

Welcome back from a trip

When someone returns from a journey, Arabic does not say "welcome back." It says al-ḥamdu lillāh ʿala s-salāma (الحمد لله على السلامة), "thank God for your safe return," usually shortened to ḥamdilla ʿas-salāma or just ʿas-salāma. The reply is allāh yisallimak to a man or allāh yisallimik to a woman, "may God keep you safe," the same reply you use when someone says goodbye. The two phrases are bookends: our guide to goodbye in Arabic covers the send-off, and this is the welcome at the other end.

"You're welcome" is a different phrase

English uses one word for two jobs: welcoming a guest and answering a thank-you. Arabic keeps them apart, and this is the most common mix-up we hear from beginners.

• ʿAfwan (عفواً) is the standard "you're welcome" after shukran. It also means "excuse me" or "pardon."
• In Egypt, people often say el-ʿafw (العفو).
• In Morocco, bla jmīl (بلا جميل), "no favor," is very common.

The twist is that in the Levant, many people answer a thank-you with ahlan wa sahlan or ahlēn as well. So you may hear the welcome phrase in both roles there. When in doubt, use ahlan wa sahlan when someone arrives and ʿafwan when someone thanks you, and you will be right everywhere.

How to write welcome in Arabic

If you want to write the word on a card, a sign or a message, the standard spelling is أهلاً وسهلاً. Read it from right to left: ahlan first, then wa (و) attached to sahlan. The small double mark on the last letter of each word (ـاً) is the -an ending, and in casual writing people often leave it out: أهلا وسهلا. For a group, add بكم: أهلاً وسهلاً بكم. Marḥaban is written مرحباً.

If those letters still look like a wall of curves, our guide to learning the Arabic alphabet in 7 days will get you reading short words like these in about a week.

The fastest way to start welcoming people in Arabic

Welcome phrases are easy to read and surprisingly hard to use, because they happen fast, at the door, while you are also taking off your shoes and answering "how are you" three times. The only way to make ahlan bīk come out on its own is to say it out loud, in a real exchange, until it stops needing thought. Yallah Speak lets you rehearse exactly that with AI conversation partners in the dialect you choose, with feedback on your pronunciation from the first lesson. Download the app and practice your first welcome today.

Frequently asked questions

What does ahlan wa sahlan mean?

Ahlan wa sahlan (أهلاً وسهلاً) means "welcome." Ahl means family or people and sahl means easy or open ground, so the traditional sense is "you have come to your people and to easy ground." It is the standard welcome in every Arabic-speaking country.

How do you reply to ahlan wa sahlan?

Say ahlan bīk to a man, ahlan bīki to a woman, or ahlan bīkum to a group, meaning "welcome to you." In the Levant you will also hear ahlēn, "two welcomes," as a friendly reply.

How do you say you're welcome in Arabic?

After a thank-you, the standard reply is ʿafwan (عفواً). Egyptians often say el-ʿafw, Moroccans say bla jmīl, and in the Levant ahlan wa sahlan is also used. Ahlan wa sahlan on its own is for welcoming a guest, not for answering shukran.

Is marhaba hello or welcome?

Both. In the Levant marḥaba is the everyday "hello," while in formal Arabic marḥaban bikum means "welcome to you all." In Morocco, mrḥba bik is the usual way to welcome someone.

How do you say welcome back in Arabic?

Arabic uses al-ḥamdu lillāh ʿala s-salāma, "thank God for your safe return," often shortened to ḥamdilla ʿas-salāma. The reply is allāh yisallimak to a man or allāh yisallimik to a woman.