7.4 Prepositions of time



Examples of at

at 4 o'clock

at Christmas/Easter

at the weekend (British)

Examples of in

in Summer

in the morning/afternoon/evening

in July

in 1999

Examples of on

on Monday

on Monday afternoon

on 5th June

on the weekend (American)

Notice: at night

Notice that we do not use a preposition with this, next or last and a time expression, e.g.:



They are coming this weekend.
(Vindran aquest cap de setmana.)
Can you come next Saturday?
(Pots venir dissabte que ve?)
They arrived last week.
(Van arribar la setmana passada.)


We use since only with a past time or past event to specify a period up to present time, e.g.:



They have lived here since 1999.
(Han viscut aquí des de 1999.)
They have lived here since their wedding.
(Han viscut aquí des del seu casament.)
Compare:
They have lived here since they got married.
(Han viscut aquí des que es van casar.)


When we specify the beginning and end of a period, we use fromto, not since, e.g.:



They lived in Spain from (not since) 1996 to 1998.
(Vivien a Espanya de 1996 a 1998.)



See also prepositions, general, prepositions of place and prepositions of movement.