Learn English – You slept well AT night or IN night

prepositions

When talking to my friend who tells me that he's sleepy, I want to tell him that I hope that he slept good at /in (last) night. What is the correct way to say it?

1) I hope you slept well at night.

2) I hope you slept well in night.

3) I hope you slept well at the last night.

4) I hope you slept well in the last night.

Best Answer

None of the mentioned alternative, that's how you should say:

I hope you slept well last night

When using last night, which is a period of time, no preposition is necessary, at/on/in, none of them will be used before last night, and it also works for others periods of time: last month, last day, last week..

Others examples:

I hope you did well in the job interview last week

I hope he gave you the present I made for you last month

I hope you looked after my son as I was out last hour

As you can see, no preposition is used before a period of time that includes the word "last".

And if you are talking this night, it doesn't take preposition too, see: I hope you slept well this night. = This night = today's night

You are only allowed to use prepositions in that sentence if you are talking about a night, not a specific one, from which a period of time hasn't been mentioned, see: I hope you sleep good at night/morning/evening.

The night in here is very cold, I hope you sleep well at night.

The morning here is very hot, I hope you can sleep well at morning.

John and Peter can't sleep at night because the night is cold, I hope they get used to this.

Thanks for Araucaria for pointing out some mistakes.