Prepositions: Prepositions of time (SVFL)

Selma missed out on a party last weekend. She was busy playing e-sports games. Fortunately her friends tell her everything that happened. Lisa kräktes ___ middagen. Akash grät ____ flera timmar.

Lina och Michael pussades säkert flera gånger ___ minuten. Philip och Jerry blev ___ ihop och gjorde ___ slut. What tasty gossip. But some words are missing. Without them, it's hard for Selma to understand: when something happened, how long it lasted, how often it took place and in what order.

The missing words are prepositions of time. These words can be used to tell when something happened. Under, Efter, På. Try using them in this sentence. Lisa kräktes ____ middagen.

For this sentence you can choose which word you like, the meaning of the sentence will change slightly, but it will be correct. But look at this sentence: Akash grät ____ flera timmar. All of these prepositions can be used to tell how long something lasted. i, på, sedan, till Only one of the words fits into this sentence. Can you see which one?

That's right: This one Akash grät i flera timmar. What if the sentence had been said this way? Akash grät ända ____ gryningen. Then which word should you use? That's right; this one.

This word tells us that something has been going on for a certain time and then it ended. And here? Akash har gråtit ____ Miriam sa att hon ville göra slut. That's right, this one. This word is used when you talk about something that is still taking place.

Poor Akash! Let's look at this sentence instead. Michael and Lina seem much happier than Akash. Lina och Michael pussades säkert flera gånger _____ minuten. These prepositions talk about how often something has been taking place.

per, i, om. Which word is missing? That's right, this one. But what if we change the sentence just slightly. Like this.

Now which word is missing? Do you see? We have now changed from definite form to indefinite form here. Now we can't use the word we did before. We need to use this preposition instead.

And what if we say it like this? Lina och Michael pussas säkert flera gånger _____ dagen. Then this is the word to use. And what really happened between Philip and Jerry? Philip och Jerry blev ___ ihop och gjorde ___ slut.

Let's try some of the prepositions that tell us in what order something took place. Först, sedan, senare. That's right: Philip och Jerry blev först ihop och gjorde sedan slut. Now you know some more about prepositions of time. But remember: regardless of..

when something happened, how long it lasted, how often it took place and in what order. ... gossip is still just gossip. It doesn't have to be true.