In Arabic, prepositions (حروف الجر) comprise a limited set of words that serve to explain relationships between other words, e.g.

من، إلى، في، عن، على، مذ، منذ، رُبَّ، حتى، خلا، حاشا، عدا، اللام، كي، واو، التاء، الكاف، الباء، لعل، متى

There is another set of words called circumstants (الظروف). These words have a similar function to prepositions and sometimes they are confused as prepositions, as they give information about time and place. Circumstants can be divided into two categories, according to whether they refer to time or place:

ظروف المكان

أمام = in front of

وراء = behind

خلف = behind

يمين = right

يسار = left

شمال = north

جنوب = south

شرق = east

غرب = west

وسط = middle

فوق = above

قرب = near

تحت = under

بين = between

عند = at

ظروف الزمان

ساعة = hour

يوم = day

أسبوع = week

شهر = month

سنة = year

صباح = morning

ظهر = noon

مساء = evening

ليل = night

أمس = yesterday

غد = tomorrow

خلال = during

أثناء = during

Grammatically, circumstants are usually accusative (منصوب ), and sometimes they are followed by genitive nouns (الاسم المجرور) just like prepositions.

انتظرتك أمامَ البابِ.

I waited for you in front of the door.

الكتب فوقَ الرفِ.

The books are on the shelf.

تغيبت عن العمل صباحَ اليومِ.

I was absent from work in the morning.

ماذا ستفعل ظهرَ الغدِ؟

What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?