German Grammar A–Z
Look up German grammar topics A–Z, organized by category and level — with clear explanations and examples.
Temporal Prepositions in, an and um
Prepositions (Präpositionen) are one of the important components for building sentences, and among them, prepositions of time are a frequently used type. Today's article will focus on three prepositions, IN, AN and UM, in their function as prepositions of time.
Let's get started!!!
|
IN |
AN |
UM |
|
- Used with the evening/night: in der Nacht |
- Used with parts of the day: am Morgen, am Abend, am Mittag (except in der Nacht) |
- Used with exact clock times: um 15 Uhr, um 6 Uhr 30,.... |
|
- Used with weeks: in dieser Woche, in letzter Woche, in nächster Woche |
- Used with days of the week: am Montag, am Dienstag, am Mittwoch,.... Especially the weekend: am Wochenende |
- Used with approximate years: um 1890 (around the year 1890) |
|
- Used with months: im Mai, im August,..... |
- Used with certain holidays: an Weihnachten, an Ostern, am Reformationstag, am Ostermontag,..... |
|
|
- Used with seasons: im Frühling, im Winter, im Herbst, im Sommer |
- Used with full dates: am 24. Mai, am 2. September 1945,..... |
|
|
- Used with years: in diesem Jahr, im Jahr 1968, … !!! Note: there are only 2 ways to write with the year unit: im Jahr 1968 and 1968. |
||
|
- Used with centuries and eras: im 18. Jahrhundert, im Mittelalter,... |
||
|
- Used with a specific point in time in the future: in 3 Minuten, in 3 Tagen, in 3 Monaten,.... |
!!! Note 1:
- morgens: jeden Morgen
- abends: jeden Abend
- donnerstags: jeden Donnerstag
- montags: jeden Montag
…….
!!! Note 2:
- A period of time or a point in time can be described without an accompanying preposition, such as: nächste Woche, letztes Jahr, dieses Jahr,... in which case the phrase is in the Akkusativ.
