Saying where and when: prepositions

Prepositions tell us where or when something happens or something is. For example:

The train arrives at 6 o'clock (when)
The train arrives on Platform 3 (where)

It is important to know what comes first in the sentence and where we put the preposition. In English, the preposition comes after the verb and before the place or the time. Like this

1st	2nd	3rd	4th
noun	verb	preposition	time or place
The train	arrives	at	6 o'clock
The train	arrives	on	Platform 3

The preposition tells us how the verb and the noun work together.

How many prepositions?

There are over 200 prepositions in English but, don't worry, most of them are unusual. In this part, we will look at the prepositions you need. You can add to the list later.

Prepositions of place

Here are the 18 most important prepositions of place.

Preposition	Use	Example	Remember the picture
on	fixed for surfaces sides public transport media	on the wall on the table on the left on the bus on television / the radio
in	buildings private transport books, boxes, rooms etc.	in the house in a car in the book in the box in the study
at	exact place events work places	at platform 6 at the party at work at school
by next to beside	sides	by me next to her beside Mary
under	lower	under the water
over	higher than more than from one side to the other	over the river over 21 over the road
above	higher	above the city
across	from one side to the other on the other side	(walk) across the road (be) across the road
through	between two limits	through the tunnel
to	movement towards	to London
into	movement to inside	into the water
towards	movement in direction of	walk towards me
onto	movement → on	onto the water
(away) from	movement away	from the garden walk away from me
out of	movement to the outside	get out of the building get out of the car
off	downward or away movement	get off the bus

Here's a picture of some prepositions of place. Notice that some of them are used for movement, some for place and some for both movement and place.

preposition grid

Click here to take a test on prepositions of place.

Prepositions of time

Here are the 10 most important prepositions of time:

Preposition	Use	Example	Remember the picture
on	days	on Monday on my birthday
in	months time of day year periods of time	in January in the morning in 1998 in two years
at	night weekend / holidays point in time	at night (time) at the weekend at Christmas at 4 o'clock
since	from a point in time	since then since 2009
for	a period of time	for a week
ago	this comes after the noun for period of time	two years ago
before	earlier than a point in time	before 10
to till / until	showing start and finish duration	from morning to evening until the end of the day
past to	time telling	twenty past 6 a quarter to ten
by	at the latest	by 10 o'clock at least