Prepositions of Time

Preposition of time
Explanations Example

#on

days
weekend (American English)
Many shops don’t open on Sundays.
What did you do on the weekend?

#in

months / seasons / year
morning / evening / afternoon
period of time
I visited Italy in July, in spring, in 1994
In the evenings, I like to relax.
This is the first cigarette I’ve had in three years.

#at

night
weekend (British English)
used to show an exact or a particular time:
It gets cold at night.
What did you do at the weekend?
There’s a meeting at 2.30 this afternoon / at lunch time.

#since

from a particular time in the past until a later time, or until now
England have not won the World Cup in football since 1966

#for

used to show an amount of time.
I’m just going to bed for an hour or so.

#ago

back in the past; back in time from the present:
The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

#before

at or during a time earlier than
She’s always up before dawn.

#to

used when saying the time, to mean before the stated hour
It’s twenty to six.

#past

telling the time
five past ten

#to

until a particular time, marking end of a period of time
It’s only two weeks to Christmas.

#from

used to show the time when something starts
The museum is open from 9.30 to 6.00 Tuesday to Sunday.

#till / #until

up to (the time that)
We waited till / until half past six for you.

#by

not later than; at or before
She had promised to be back by five o’clock.