How To Say You’re Welcome In Portuguese

 

Learn how to say you’re welcome in Portuguese in different ways and have some insight into how Brazilian and Portuguese people can be very welcoming.

 

If you’re reading this article, I would imagine it’s because you’re interested in learning Portuguese, my native language. I’d also imagine you’ve read the different ways to say thank you in Portuguese. So now, I want to show you how to say you’re welcome in Portuguese, so that you’ll be able to have a varied vocabulary to use and to understand what is said to you.

First things first: if you know that in English you can say you’re welcome, not at all, nothing at all, don’t mention it, etc, you’ll realize that there are quite a few ways to say you’re welcome in Portuguese.

As a word of caution, don’t translate the words literally: if you translate it word by word from English, you’ll say você é bem vindo, which only means you’re welcoming someone to a place. And that’s not what you want to say.

Portuguese speakers in Brazil and Portugal use different expressions to say you’re welcome. It varies a lot depending on the person’s age, social background, and degree of formality, for example.

When you get to the end of the article you will, hopefully, have understood which expression is better to use in each situation you may find yourself in.

Whenever applicable, I will be mentioning whether the expression is common only in Portugal or Brazil, since some variations will sound weird to some people in one of the two countries.

But why do you have to say something when someone thanks you? It’s pretty much a universal thing: to be polite. You want to show that you are glad to have helped, done something for the other and that it was not a problem. Rather, you want to say you’re glad you could help.

How To Say You’re Welcome in Portuguese

Now that we got the word-by-word translation out of the way, let’s see how to really reply to the Portuguese word obrigado.

1- De Nada

De nada is the most common way to reply to someone who’s just thanked you. While in Portuguese males say obrigado and females say obrigada, the answer, in this case, is the same whether the respondent is male or female.

The meaning is “it’s nothing” because you want to show the other that what you did was not much, or that it was not such a big effort for you. Some people may simply say nada, with the first A elongated.

2- Por Nada

Por nada is another way to say you’re welcome in Portuguese. It’s also used in both Brazil, Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries. It’s a popular way to reply to thank you, but it’s slightly less common than de nada.

3- Disponha

Disponha is another way to reply, but it’s usually not used by younger people. It means at your disposal.

4- Não Há De Quê

In Brazil, não há de quê is normally used by more educated people. Also, you’ll hardly ever hear a very young person using this expression. It’s also a common way to say you are welcome in Portugal. It literally means there’s no reason (to thank me).

A variation of this expression is não tem de quê, which has exactly the same connotation.

5- Não Seja Por Isso

You may hear someone reply to thank you in Portuguese with não seja por isso. It just means this is not a reason to thank me. While the literal translation into English may sound like there’s a hidden message – this is no reason to thank me, but THAT is a reason to thank me – in Portuguese it’s just another polite way to say you’re welcome with no irony or sarcasm intended.

6- Eu É Que Agradeço!

This is an expression I use a lot and it’s used when both parties have been helpful to each other. So when someone thanks you, you reply eu é que agradeço, meaning than YOU! Just a quick pronunciation tip, in agradeço (I thank), the Ç sounds exactly like the letter S in the words sound or sauce.

7-  Imagina!

This is a very Brazilian way to say you’re welcome. In Portuguese, it’s an imperative form of imagine. But imagine what? Well, it could be something like imagine that it was nothing.

This answer is not commonly used in Portugal.

8- Não Foi Nada

Não foi nada literally means it was nothing. A closer English equivalent would be not at all.

9- Às Ordens

This is definitely something you won’t hear teenagers saying and you may even get some surprising reaction when you say it. Às ordens also means at your disposal.

10- Ora Essa!

Ora essa! is a very common way to say you are welcome in Portugal. It means No need (to thank me!).

It’s also a very common expression used in Portugal to mean, oh, I see what you mean!, when someone realizes something. Feel free to use it when traveling to Lisbon or Porto.

Don’t use this expression to say you’re welcome in Brazil, since it means how so, or how dare you?.

11- Valeu!

This is a very informal expression used in Brazil. You’re more likely to hear that when you thank very young people. If you’re the one saying you’re welcome, don’t use it at work, formal situations or to any adult you’re not very familiar with. If speaking to friends or teenagers, for example, feel free to say value! In terms of pronunciation, the stress is on the second syllable, with the E sounding like the second E in dessert.

 

You’re Welcome in Portuguese: Conclusion

Whichever expression you choose to use, you’ll be fine. De nada or por nada are the safest ones since they can be used in any situation and with just anyone, no matter the situation. They’re also common in Portugal and Brazil. Ora essa is a nice one to use in Portugal, while valeu! is great to use with close friends or very young people in Brazil.

So, which of these ways to say you are welcome in Portuguese is your favorite one?