Learn English – Difference between “having time to theself” and “having time for theself”

prepositionssentence-meaning

  • I do not have much time to myself.
  • I do not have much time for myself.

Do these sentences have different meanings because of the prepositions TO and FOR? If there is, then what?

Thank you for the answers in advance. 🙂

Best Answer

From the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: "to myself" means "to not have to share something with anyone else".

The phrase "for myself" is not separately defined in the dictionary. But in the American Heritage dictionary "for" is defined as "Used to indicate the object, aim or purpose of an action or an activity".

Therefore:

"Time for myself" means I am using that time to benefit myself.

"Time to myself" means that I am alone during that time. I may or may not be doing something "for myself" during that time.