Meaning & use
yesterday
Last updated
Meanings
adverbnot comparable
On the day before today.
Grammar: No preposition needed: I called yesterday, not 'on yesterday'.
Patterns
- yesterday morning
- yesterday afternoon
I saw her yesterday at the station.
It rained heavily yesterday.
We finished the project yesterday.
noununcountable
The day before today.
Grammar: Takes no article: yesterday was cold. Possessive form is yesterday's.
Patterns
- yesterday's news
- since yesterday
Yesterday was my sister's birthday.
I still have yesterday's newspaper.
The meeting from yesterday was canceled.
noununcountableliterary
The recent past in general, or a time long gone.
Grammar: Used with 'of' to mean times gone by: the heroes of yesterday; a plural 'yesterdays' is also used.
Patterns
- the heroes of yesterday
- a thing of yesterday
The stars of yesterday are forgotten today.
Her songs made us think of yesterday.
He talked about the problems of yesterday.
Word forms
| plural | yesterdays |
|---|
Common combinations
- yesterday morning
- I spoke to her yesterday morning.
- just yesterday
- It feels like just yesterday we met.
- not born yesterday
- I wasn't born yesterday, so I won't fall for that.
- yesterday's news
- Yesterday's news is already forgotten.
- the day before yesterday
- They arrived the day before yesterday.
- since yesterday
- I've had a headache since yesterday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- the previous day
- The previous day is relative to any date in a story, while yesterday is relative to the moment of speaking.
- the day before
- The day before also moves with the date being discussed, whereas yesterday is always one day before today.
- recently
- Recently covers any short time ago, but yesterday is exactly one day back.
Opposites
Word family
- yesterday's adjective
- belonging to the previous day, as in yesterday's game
- yesteryear noun
- a time in the past, literary
- today noun
- the present day
- tomorrow noun
- the day after today
Commonly confused: yesterday or last night?
yesterday vs last night
Say last night, not 'yesterday night', for the evening before today.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
Yesterday is an adverb of time and takes no preposition. In, at and on are all wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “yesterday”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.