'At the Weekend' or 'On the Weekend' or 'In the Weekend'?

Is it 'on the weekend' or 'in the weekend'? Knowing which phrase to use can be tricky if you’ve been struggling with prepositions on your path to learning the English language (or you’re just brushing up on what you’ve learned in elementary school). But once you get the hang of prepositions, you’ll be able to quickly determine which phrase is correct.

The answer is that ‘on the weekend’ is the correct way to say the phrase rather than ‘in the weekend.’

Which is Correct – ‘In the Weekend’ or ‘On the Weekend’

As you just learned, the correct way to say the phrase is ‘on the weekend.’ ‘In the weekend’ doesn’t make grammatical sense. 

Over the Weekend, On the Weekend, At the Weekend or In the Weekend

There's also another variation of the phrase that is just as acceptable.

For example, the phrase ‘over the weekend’ is also acceptable to say in the English language.

How to Use the Phrase Correctly in a Sentence

 Learning how to use the phrase correctly in a sentence means you may need to see some examples.

Take a look at a few examples of how to use the phrases correctly:

• I want to go see a wrestling match on the weekend.
• I want to go see a movie over the weekend.
• We usually go get our nails done on the weekend.
• What did you do over the long Memorial Day weekend?
• We need to clean out the garage over the weekend.

Understanding Prepositions

Prepositions can be tricky to understand when learning English for the first time. A preposition is defined as a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, or spatial relationships or to introduce an object.

Some of the basic rules for prepositions include:

• Prepositions have to have an object
• The Pronoun following the Preposition should be an object form
• A verb can’t be an object of a preposition
• The preposition must come before the word

Examples of words that are prepositions include:

• In
• At
• On
• Of
• To
• Into
• Onto

To describe a direction, you’d use the words “in,” “to,” “into,” “on,” and “onto.”

If you’re talking about a point in time, you’d use prepositions like “on,” “in,” and “at.”

For places, you might use prepositions like “inside,” “over,” “at,” “in,” “on,” “below,” “beneath,” “underneath,” “by,” “next to,” “between,” “among,” or “near.”

Spatial relationships might utilize prepositions like “through,” “against,” “across,” “above,” “behind,” “around,” “toward,” and “among.”

You need to know how to use each preposition appropriately, like whether it’s better to say ‘in or within’ in any given circumstance.

Can You Ever Use ‘In the Weekend’?

It wouldn’t be correct to say you did something ‘in the weekend.’ It just doesn’t make grammatical sense.

However, you might hear people say something like, “The weather’s been pretty bad as we head into the weekend.”

Saying in this manner is acceptable and appropriate, but you’d never say you’re going to do something ‘in the weekend’ or ‘into the weekend.’

You might say something’s happening as you head ‘into the weekend.’ So make sure you never use this if you want to use the correct phrase.

Final Thoughts on Using ‘On the Weekend’

Now that you know it’s okay to say ‘on the weekend’ and even ‘over the weekend,’ you’ll be able to use the phrases correctly from now on.

But don’t beat yourself up if you get tripped up on anything – phrases like this and Interested In/Interested On, On Friday/In Friday, and Has Been/Have Been/Had Been.

There’s no easy rule to help you remember which is the correct way to say it. But you can always come back here and browse our library of confusing words – it’s filled with tons of useful articles on commonly confused English words and phrases, including idioms. Go check it out.