Meaning & use
make yourself at home
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phraseinformal
Said to a guest, meaning they should relax and feel comfortable as if in their own house.
Grammar: Spoken as an invitation; yourself changes to match the guest.
Patterns
- make yourself at home
Come in and make yourself at home; I'll put the kettle on.
Please make yourselves at home while I finish cooking.
He told the new neighbor to make herself at home.
phraseidiominformalhumorous
To behave in a relaxed, sometimes too free, way in a place that is not yours.
Grammar: Used in any tense with a matching pronoun: he made himself at home.
Patterns
- make yourself at home in something
The cat made itself at home on my best chair.
She made herself at home in my kitchen and started cooking.
Common combinations
- make yourself at home
- Make yourself at home and help yourself to a drink.
- quickly make yourself at home
- He quickly made himself at home in the new office.
- told to make yourself at home
- We were told to make ourselves at home.
- make yourselves at home
- Please make yourselves at home, everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- relax
- Relax is a general instruction, while make yourself at home also tells the guest they are welcome.
- settle in
- Settle in describes adjusting to a place over time, not a single welcoming sentence.
- feel at home
- Feel at home describes the guest's feeling, whereas make yourself at home is an invitation.
- help yourself
- Help yourself is about taking food or items, not about general comfort.
Word family
Commonly confused: make yourself at home or feel at home?
make yourself at home vs feel at home
Feel at home is how you feel; make yourself at home is what a host says or what you do.
Practice
A host who wants a guest to relax would most naturally say:
Choose one answer.
Make yourself at home is the standard welcoming phrase. The other options are rude or not idiomatic.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “make yourself at home”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.