1. What are prepositions of time?
When talking about when something happened, the time phrase (for example: the day, the month, the year) usually needs a preposition.
2. Knowing which prepositions to use
Different time phrases use different prepositions:
| Time | Preposition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| year | in | in 2012 |
| month | in | in February |
| season | in | in summer |
| part of the day with ‘the’ | in | in the morning |
| day | on | on Tuesday |
| date | on | on March 16th |
| one-day holiday | on | on Christmas Day |
| time of day | at | at 9am |
| part of day without ‘the’ | at | at night |
| longer holiday time | at | at Christmas time |
*Note: ‘during’ can be used to mean inside any period of time, but is most often used for seasons.
3. Examples of prepositions of time
| I moved to Vienna in 1999. (year = in) | She was born on February 29th. (date = on) |
| He bought that car in 2003. (year = in) | They will come back on the 15th. (date = on) |
| My birthday is in July. (month = in) | I will see you on New Year’s Day. (day = on) |
| They are going on holiday in May. (month = in) | I’ll be busy at New Year. (holiday time = at) |
| I’ll go home in the autumn. (season = in) | The show begins at 2. (time = at) |
| It is a good idea to visit this country in spring. (season = in) | I woke up at 4.25. (time = at) |
| It is very hot during the summer. (block of time = during) | She is busy in the morning. (part of the day + the = in) |
| The city gets very busy during winter. (block of time = during) | We usually watch TV in the evening. (part of the day + the = in) |
| We will have a meeting on Tuesday. (day = on) | There was a lot of noise at night. (part of the day = at) |
| They met on Valentine’s Day. (day = on) | I’ll meet you at sunset. (part of the day = at) |