Ich gehe am Montag ins Kino.
English: I go to the cinema on Monday.
- Language
- German
- Level
- A1
- Unit
- Zeit und Ort
- Practice types
- 0
What this grammar point covers
Temporal prepositions in German are words that show when something happens. They answer questions like 'when?' or 'how long?'.
When to use it
Use temporal prepositions to talk about days, dates, times, months, seasons, start and end points, and durations in German.
Key forms
- am (am Montag, am Abend)
- im (im Januar, im Sommer)
- um (um 8 Uhr)
- von ... bis (von Montag bis Freitag)
- ab (ab morgen)
- seit (seit 2010)
- bis (bis morgen)
Examples
Wir treffen uns um 18 Uhr.
English: We meet at 6 p.m.
Er arbeitet seit 2015 in Berlin.
English: He has worked in Berlin since 2015.
Ab morgen habe ich Urlaub.
English: From tomorrow I have vacation.
Die Schule ist von Montag bis Freitag.
English: School is from Monday to Friday.
Tips
- Use 'am' with days and parts of the day (am Montag, am Morgen).
- Use 'im' with months and seasons (im Januar, im Winter).
- Do not use a preposition with 'heute', 'morgen', or 'jetzt'.
Exceptions and edge cases
- For 'in der Nacht', use 'in der' instead of 'am'.
- Some prepositions require the dative case (am, im, seit, ab); 'bis' does not use an article.
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