Prepositions are short words that go before nouns.

We will go over the most important things you need to know about the different prepositions in detail in the following lessons. But in this lesson, we will just cover the basic things you need to know about prepositions.

1. Prepositions are used to tell time, place, location, and direction.

• The concert starts at 9 pm.
• She was born in 1982.
• The pencil is between the book and the cup.

2. Prepositions are followed by a noun.

• I am thinking about my family.
• There was a good reason for the delay.
• She replied to my letter.

But since prepositions are followed by a noun, that means that prepositions can also be followed by a gerund or a noun clause.

Here are some examples of a preposition followed by a gerund.

• I am thinking about moving to China.
• She is interested in joining our company.
• There was a good reason for delaying the project.

Here are examples of a preposition followed by a noun clause.

• I am thinking about what to do next.
• She is interested in how to fix cars.
• There was a good reason for what he did.

Prepositions are very difficult for anyone who is learning English because there are many rules and uses for prepositions.

In the following lessons, we will go over all of the most important things that you need to know about prepositions.

Prepositions are one of the hardest things for people who are learning English to master. But you should not worry about prepositions too much. Most times, if you make a mistake with a preposition, the other person can still understand what you are saying. However, if you want to be an excellent or fluent English speaker, then you must know how to use prepositions correctly. It will take time to master English prepositions, but if you study these lessons and come back to review them often, then you will gain a better understanding of how and when to use each English preposition.