Is it “your welcome” or “you’re welcome?” Which is the correct way to reply to someone who is showing appreciation? Which is grammatically correct and incorrect? In English, “your” and “you’re” are often confused. Both relate to specifying “someone,” rather one form is referring to the base forms “you are” and the other “your” the person.
Learn whether it’s “your welcome” or “you’re welcome” in this short guide.
Which is correct? “You’re welcome” or “your welcome”
The correct answer is “you’re welcome.” The reason why this is a common mistake is that we refer to “you’re” as “you are.” “Your” is the possessive pronoun of the word “you.” Meaning, when we refer to something with the word “your,” we are saying that something belongs to that person.
For example, we wouldn’t say that the welcome belongs to a person. It is that we are referring to the person themselves. “Your welcome” would state that the welcome is of ownership to a pronoun (a person).
Why is “you’re welcomed” incorrect?
“You’re welcomed” is not the correct way to say that, “Someone has been thanked.” Instead, we would say, “You have been welcomed.” Or “you have been thanked.”
Additionally, it is the incorrect way to say thank you to someone.
How to respond to someone saying thank you
If a person is saying “thank you,” the correct response would be “you’re welcome.”
For example, if John drove Sarah to the airport. And on the way out of the car, Sarah said, “Thank you for driving me to the airport.” John would respond, “You’re welcome.” If John were to say or write, “your welcome” that would be grammatically incorrect.
Inside this article
Fact checked:
Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.
Core lessons
Glossary
- Abstract Noun
- Accusative Case
- Anecdote
- Antonym
- Active Sentence
- Adverb
- Adjective
- Allegory
- Alliteration
- Adjective Clause
- Adjective Phrase
- Ampersand
- Anastrophe
- Adverbial Clause
- Appositive Phrase
- Clause
- Compound Adjective
- Complex Sentence
- Compound Words
- Compound Predicate
- Common Noun
- Comparative Adjective
- Comparative and Superlative
- Compound Noun
- Compound Subject
- Compound Sentence
- Copular Verb
- Collective Noun
- Colloquialism
- Conciseness
- Consonance
- Conditional
- Concrete Noun
- Conjunction
- Conjugation
- Conditional Sentence
- Comma Splice
- Correlative Conjunction
- Coordinating Conjunction
- Coordinate Adjective
- Cumulative Adjective
- Dative Case
- Determiner
- Declarative Sentence
- Declarative Statement
- Direct Object Pronoun
- Direct Object
- Diction
- Diphthong
- Dangling Modifier
- Demonstrative Pronoun
- Demonstrative Adjective
- Direct Characterization
- Definite Article
- Doublespeak
- False Dilemma Fallacy
- Future Perfect Progressive
- Future Simple
- Future Perfect Continuous
- Future Perfect
- First Conditional
- Irregular Adjective
- Irregular Verb
- Imperative Sentence
- Indefinite Article
- Intransitive Verb
- Introductory Phrase
- Indefinite Pronoun
- Indirect Characterization
- Interrogative Sentence
- Intensive Pronoun
- Inanimate Object
- Indefinite Tense
- Infinitive Phrase
- Interjection
- Intensifier
- Infinitive
- Indicative Mood
- Participle
- Parallelism
- Prepositional Phrase
- Past Simple Tense
- Past Continuous Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Past Progressive Tense
- Present Simple Tense
- Present Perfect Tense
- Personal Pronoun
- Personification
- Persuasive Writing
- Parallel Structure
- Phrasal Verb
- Predicate Adjective
- Predicate Nominative
- Phonetic Language
- Plural Noun
- Punctuation
- Punctuation Marks
- Preposition
- Preposition of Place
- Parts of Speech
- Possessive Adjective
- Possessive Determiner
- Possessive Case
- Possessive Noun
- Proper Adjective
- Proper Noun
- Present Participle
- Prefix
- Predicate