Prepositions of Time: Examples & Exercises

Prepositions of time are words that help us describe when something happens, how long it lasts, or the time relationship between events. They connect time expressions (such as dates, hours, or periods) to the rest of the sentence.

Some prepositions refer to a specific point in time, while others describe duration, limits, sequence, or periods that continue over time. Therefore, understanding how these prepositions work will help you speak and write about schedules, routines, deadlines, and past events more accurately.

Prepositions of Time Table
Prepositions in on at
Exercises
- Exercises on Prepositions AT, IN, ON

Prepositions of Time Table

The table below shows the most common prepositions of time, their typical uses, and example sentences.

Preposition	Use	Examples
at	Exact times or specific moments	at 6:00 • at noon • at midnight
in	Months, years, seasons, long periods, parts of the day	in July • in 2025 • in the morning
on	Days and specific dates	on Monday • on June 12th
by	Deadline (before or not later than a time)	Finish the report by Friday.
from	Starting point in time	The meeting runs from 9 a.m.
to	Ending point in time	The meeting runs from 9 to 11.
for	Duration of time	She studied for two hours.
away	Time remaining before something happens	The holidays are still weeks away.
beyond	Later than a certain time or limit	The discussion continued beyond midnight.
about	Around or approximately a time	The train arrives about noon.
throughout	During the whole period	It rained throughout the night.
into	Continuing to a later point in time	The party went into the night.
through	From beginning to end of a period	She worked through the night.
past	After a certain time	It was already past midnight.
during	Within a period when something happens	He fell asleep during the movie.
since	From a point in the past until now	She has lived here since 2018.
until	Up to a certain time limit	Stay here until I return.
before	Earlier than a certain time	Finish this before lunch.
after	Later than a certain time	We met after the meeting.

Some prepositions describe a point in time (at, on, by), others describe periods or duration (for, throughout, during), and others show time relationships between events (before, after, since, until).

Prepositions in on at

The prepositions in, on, and at are very common when we talk about time. We use in for longer periods like months, years, seasons, and parts of the day.
Examples: in May, in 2025, in summer, in the morning.

We use on for days and dates.
Examples: on Monday, on July 10th, on my birthday.

And we use at for exact times or specific moments.
Examples: at 8:00, at noon, at midnight.

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There are also a few special cases. In British English, people usually say at the weekend, while in American English people often say on the weekend. With holidays, we often say at Christmas, at Easter, or at New Year, but on Christmas Day or on Easter Sunday when we mean the exact day. Another exception is at night, even though we say in the morning and in the afternoon.