Prepositions are small words that usually appear before nouns (sometimes before verbs in the -ing form).

Even advanced English learners often struggle with the correct use of prepositions because literal translation is usually not possible.

A single preposition from Bulgarian can have several different translations in English depending on the situation.

There are few grammatical rules for the use of prepositions in English. The only way to learn prepositions is to check them in a dictionary, through extensive reading in English, and by memorizing useful phrases.

The following table contains the rules for using some of the most commonly used prepositions in English:

Time prepositions in English:

English	Usage	Example
on	days of the week	on Monday
in	months / seasons part of the day year after a certain period of time (when?)	in August / in winter in the morning in 2006 in an hour
at	for night for Saturday and Sunday for a specific moment in time (when?)	at night at the weekend at half past nine
since	from a specific moment in time (from the past until now)	since 1980
for	over a certain period of time (past till now)	for 2 years
ago	at a certain moment in the past	2 years ago
before	earlier than a certain period of time	before 2004
to	when telling the time	ten to six (5:50)
past	when telling the time	ten past six (6:10)
to / till / until	when marking the beginning and end of a period of time	from Monday to/till Friday
till / until	in the sense of how long something will last	He is on holiday until Friday.
by	in the sense of no later than until a specific time	I will be back by 6 o'clock. By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions of place (location and direction) in English:

English	Usage	Example
in	room, building, street, city, country book, newspaper, etc. car, taxi picture, the world	in the kitchen, in London in the book in the car, in a taxi in the picture, in the world
at	with the meaning of next to (next to, by an object) for table for events for places where we do something normally (watch a film, study, work)	at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work
on	when something is attached/hanging for places with rivers when something is on a surface for a specific side (left / right) for a floor of a building for public transport for television, radio	the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio
by, next to, beside	left and right side of someone or something	Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
under	on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else	the bag is under the table
below	lower than something else, but above the ground	the fish are below the surface
over	covered by something else meaning more than passing from the other side of something (also when crossing) overcoming obstacles	put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall
above	higher than something else, but not directly on it	a path above the lake
across	passing from the other side of something (also river) going to the opposite side of something	walk across the bridge swim across the lake
through	something limited in height and/or width	drive through the tunnel
to	movement towards a person or building movement to a place or country for bed	go to the cinema go to London / Ireland go to bed
into	entering a room / building	go into the kitchen / the house
towards	movement in the direction of something (but not directly towards it)	go 5 steps towards the house
onto	movement to the top / highest part of something	jump onto the table
from	in the sense of where from	a flower from the garden

Other important prepositions in English:

English	Usage	Example
from	who gave it	a present from Jane
of	who it belongs to what it shows	a page of the book the picture of a palace
by	who made it	a book by Mark Twain
on	walking or riding a horse when entering public transport or a building	on foot, on horseback get on the bus
in	when entering a car / taxi	get in the car
off	when exiting a public transport vehicle	get off the train
out of	when exiting a car / taxi	get out of the taxi
by	increasing or decreasing something traveling (other than walking or riding a horse)	prices have risen by 10 percent by car, by bus
at	for age	she learned Russian at 45
about	for topics, meaning what about	we were talking about you

More articles on English grammar

Prepositions in English – How to Use Them Correctly

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