Uslub Arabic | How do you greet someone when he arrives somewhere?

Welcoming expression in English

How do you greet someone in Arabic, especially when he or she arrives at your place? 

Before explaining this expression, let's see the following concept :

We use “welcome” when we are greeting someone who has just arrived somewhere (examples: in your place, home, a city, etc.

For example: 

— Greeting your father when he has just arrived at home ⇒ “Welcome home!”

— Welcoming your friend when he has just arrived in your city ⇒ “Welcome to Riyadh”

Arabic style (uslub) for expressing this greeting

Welcoming someone in Arabic can be expressed by “marhaban” then followed by “harf bi” then directly followed by “person”

Observe the picture below for the detail pattern.

I'm sure you've already known the pattern. Let's see the sentence examples below.

Sentence examples with a word by word translation and explanation

1. مَرْحَبًا بِكَ يَا أَخِي

The meaning: Welcome, o my brother.

The translation and explanation:

— كَ is damir. It means “you” (2nd person, masculine, and singular).

كَ is pronoun for أَنْتَ 

— أَخٌ means brother.

أَخِي means my brother.

2. مَرْحَبًا بِكَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى

The meaning: Welcome back!

The translation and explanation:

—  مَرَّةً أُخْرَى means again; once more

— كَ is used for 2nd person, masculine, singular. 

If you want to welcome 2nd person, feminine, singular, use damir كِ , so the expression becomes 

مَرْحَبًا بِكِ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى (marhaban biki marratan ukhra).

We use this expression for welcoming someone who've just returned. 

3. مَرْحَبًا بِكَ فِي بَيْتِكَ

The meaning: Welcome home!

The word by word translation and explanation:

— كَ is damir for 2nd person, masculine, singular.

— بَيْتٌ means house.

بَيْتُكَ means your house.

 We use this expression for welcoming someone who've just arrived at his house.

4. مَرْحَبًا بِضُيُوفِنَا الكِرَامِ

The meaning: Our noble guests, Welcome!

The word by word translation and explanation:

— ضُيُوفٌ means guests.

ضُيُوفٌ  is a plural form of ضَيْفٌ .

 بِضُيُوفِنَا means our guests.

—كِرَامٌ means noble; generous

كِرَامٌ is plural form of كَرِيمٌ 

5.  مَرْحَبًا بِالطُّلَّابِ الجُدُدِ فِي هَذِهِ الجَامِعَةِ

The meaning:  The new students, welcome to this university!

The translation and explanation:

— طُلاَّبٌ = students

 طُلاَّبٌ is plural form of طَالِبٌ

— جُدُدٌ = new

 جُدُدٌ  is plural form of جَدِيدٌ

— جَامِعَةٌ means university