yesterday or last?

Question

0Are "yesterday" and "last" interchangeable when followed by part of the day? Cam I properly say "She was at home yesterday/last afternoon"? "He was in bed yesterday/last night"?02br02br00Thanks to everybody0-

Nef · Accepted Answer

1i00Are "yesterday" and "last" interchangeable when followed by part of the day? Cam I properly say "She was at home yesterday/last afternoon"? "He was in bed yesterday/last night"?02i02br
02br
00For some reason that I don't begin understand, we say "yesterday afternoon" but 01u00not02u00 "yesterday night." Similarly, it's common to say "last night" but 01u00not02u00 "last afternoon." (I'm in the US and don't know if this applies to other English-speaking countries, also.)0-

Matress · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Stonefly12cite10Are "yesterday" and "last" interchangeable when followed by part of the day? Cam I properly say "She was at home yesterday/last afternoon"? "He was in bed yesterday/last night"?12br
12br
10Thanks to everybody12br
12br
12blockquote

10I think you can't say last afternoon! Just last night = the night before. 02br
02br
00Let's think - You can't say "last day" meaning the day before, but you can say "today is your last day here! 02br
02br
00Let's wait more explanation. 0-

BarbaraPA · Answer

0You have apparently discovered another quirk of this language.02br
02br
00So, let's see:02br
02br
00Last night02br
02br
00Last evening OR yesterday evening both sound right02br
02br
00Yesterday afternoon02br
02br
00Yesterday morning02br
02br
00This past Monday (say it's Thursday and you mean the one a few days ago) - There can be confusion about "last Monday" if it's only a few days since Monday - did you mean the one a week ago, or this one? But if it's Tuesday, and you say "last Monday" it's clear you mean the one a week ago, not "yesterday." To avoid confusion, it's best to say "this past Monday" or "a week ago last Monday"02br
02br
00Last week, month, year, etc. If you say "last year," you mean 2005, but if you say "in the past year" you'd mean the 12-month period leading up to whatever day it is.02br
02br
00I don't know how any of you master this stuff - it's troublesome for me and I grew up with it. My hat is off to you (which is another expression that means I respect what you are doing).0-

Paco2004 · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Stonefly12cite10Are "yesterday" and "last" interchangeable when followed by part of the day? Cam I properly say "She was at home yesterday/last afternoon"? "He was in bed yesterday/last night"?12blockquote

11blockquote

01cite10Grammar Geek12cite10You have apparently discovered another quirk of this language.12br
10So, let's see:12br
10Last night12br
10Last evening OR yesterday evening both sound right12br
10Yesterday afternoon12br
10Yesterday morning12blockquote

10Hello guys02br
02br
00Please let me quibble a bit upon this issue. 02br
02br
00To my supposition, any languages (including English) were developed in ancient times to meet the need of smooth communication between hunters who pursued game together. And I suppose the hunters hunted only during daytime, i.e. from the dawn to the sunset. In the night they were at home where they didn't need to speak with the family in the language, because they were able to communicate with each other through "body languages" in the dark. So I suppose that every language, at the early stage of its development, was only used in the daytime, i.e, from morning to evening. 02br
02br
00Now let go with the subject. First, please take note that "last" was originally "latest". If they (the hunters) used the phrase "last or latest day", they would get confused because someone might take "latest day" for "today". So they might think they had to use other word for the day before the present day. "Yesterday" began to be used for this purpose. The fact that they avoided using "last morning" and "last afternoon" could be explained by the same reason. In the case of night, however, they said "last night", probably because there was no fear of confusion. "The last night" could mean nothing but the night before the dawn of the present day, because they spoke only after the dawn. 02br
02br
00"Yesterday evening" and "last evening" would be on the borderline. Some young people might speak to the strangers even in the evening to make love, and in this case they would use "yesterday evening" rather than "last evening" to avoid confusion.02br
02br
00paco0-

yesterday or last?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions