At what age can children generally understand prepositions?

Children generally begin to understand prepositions around the age of 30 months. This developmental milestone coincides with their growing language abilities, as they start to grasp the relationships between objects and their positions relative to one another.

At this age, children not only expand their vocabulary but also begin to comprehend more complex linguistic structures, which includes understanding words that describe spatial relationships, such as "under," "on," "in," and "between." By 30 months, many children demonstrate the ability to follow simple instructions that incorporate these prepositions, indicating that they understand the spatial concepts behind them.

In the earlier stages, particularly around 18 months and 24 months, children may not have the cognitive capacity or linguistic skills to fully grasp these concepts, as their language development is still in its early phases. By 36 months, children show an even further advanced understanding of language, including a more nuanced grasp of prepositions. However, 30 months is the typical age when they first start to demonstrate a consistent understanding of these spatial relationships.