PREPOSITIONS OF TIME

Seonaid holding a book

In, at, on and no preposition with time words:

Click here for our complete programme to perfect your English grammar.

Prepositions of time - here's a list of the time words that need 'on', 'in', 'at' and some that don't need any preposition. Be careful - many students of English use 'on' with months (it should be 'in'), or put a preposition before 'next' when we don't need one.

at
  • times: at 8pm, at midnight, at 6:30
  • holiday periods: at Christmas, at Easter
  • at night
  • at the weekend
  • at lunchtime, at dinnertime, at breakfast time
on
  • days: on Monday, on my birthday, on Christmas Day
  • days + morning / afternoon / evening / night: on Tuesday morning
  • dates: on the 20th of June
in
  • years: in 1992, in 2006
  • months: in December, in June
  • decades: in the sixties, in the 1790s
  • centuries: in the 19th century
  • seasons: in winter, in summer
  • in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening
no preposition
  • next week, year, month etc
  • last night, year etc
  • this morning, month etc
  • every day, night, year etc
  • today, tomorrow, yesterday

Click here to download this explanation as a PDF.
Try an exercise about prepositions of time here.
Try another exercise about time prepositions here.
Click here for all exercises about prepositions.
Click here for our complete programme to perfect your English grammar.


DO YOU WANT TO MASTER ENGLISH GRAMMAR?

Your logical way to teach is very easy to understand.

- Lyudmila

This is the best-structured and the most clear course I've ever seen.

- Oksana

It was easy to learn - you explained it perfectly.

- Maria
Click here to see how we can help you speak correctly and feel confident about English.