Learn English – Can we use the preposition “on” before “the night”

definite-articleprepositional-phrasesprepositions

I have been learning English for a few months. I have never seen "on" preposition before the night during my English journey till the morning, but when I was reading a novel and the writer of the novel used "on" before the night, I got confused and came up here to get some help on it. I understand when we use "at" and "in" prepositions before the night. Let me tell (with the help of examples) you what I understand by "at" and "in".

At before the night:

When we are talking about the complete night.

I was there at the night.

In before the night:

When we are talking about a period of time during the night.

I was there in the night.

Could you please tell me when we should use "on" before the night?

I have asked this because I read it in the novel.

From the novel (bad for you):

I broke the kiss and got out of the car. I was ready for a drink and
some music. And a lot of people. I needed the crowd. “They all
coming?” I asked Green as I held out my hand for the girl to take. She
quickly scrambled out of the car and clung to me.

“Probably already here,” he replied. The band liked crashing at our
place on nights we played at Live Bay. We kept an open door for any
neighbors. Seeing as they were all college students, they never
complained. They came and joined the party.

Best Answer

First off, prepositions are tricky words, and it's hard to talk about all the ways they can be used.

That said...

at

We can use at night to mean during the nighttime:

I was there at night.

(notice how I did not say "at the night," which is what you wrote in your question).

in

We can use in the night to mean during the nighttime or at various times during the night:

Hyenas prowl in the night. (at night would work, too)

into

We use into the night to say that something continues for a long time after sunset:

The partygoers reveled late into the night.

on

You are correct, we don't usually say on night or on the night. However, if we expand the phrase, and stipulate which nights we are talking about, then "on (the) nights when..." is a relatively common construct:

The band liked crashing at our place on nights we played at Live Bay.
I try to go to bed early on Sunday nights.
On the nights when we hear the ice cream truck, we'll go outside and buy ice cream.

Now, let's combine some of these together:

We usually lock the front door at night. However, our roommate Micheal is an actor, and he sometimes works late into the night. On the nights Micheal hasn't come home before midnight, we leave the front door unlocked, in case he has forgotten his key.

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