eng werden

[giberian]

Hi,

there's a previous thread on the german idiom "eng werden", but the context is different and the translation offered there doesn't fit into the context in which I'd like to use it.

The German phrase I'd like to transfer into idiomatic English is the following:

"Treffen wir uns nächste Woche, diese Woche wird's schon eng für mich."

The meaning of "eng werden" in this context is that I already have too many appointments during this week, so if the other one insisted, I'd hardly find the time to receive him.

I'm not sure if "this is already a tight week for me" is a very good translation for what I'm trying to say. What I'm looking for is the natural way of expressing the same idea in English.

Thanks a lot and best regards,
Giberian.

 

[Robroy]

I'm not sure if "this is already a tight week for me" is a very good translation for what I'm trying to say. What I'm looking for is the natural way of expressing the same idea in English.

"I'm rather busy this week" would sound natural to me, or maybe "this is a busy week for me", I'm not a native speaker, though, let's see what they think.

 

[trance0]

How about "busy and/or tight schedule"?

 

[giberian]

Thanks a lot!

So, in a complete sentence, I'd have to say: "This week I'm (already) on a tight/busy schedule, let's meet next week", right?

Best regards,
Giberian.

 

[ABBA Stanza]

Another (similar) idea would be:

"This week is going to be tight for me, so let's meet up next week instead."

(Note: I've added "so" and "instead" to make the sentence flow better)

Abba

 

[giberian]

Great. Thanks a lot, Abba Stanza.

 

[brian]

You would say that you have a tight/busy schedule. To be on a tight/busy schedule is much more general, i.e. talks about your schedule in general/all the time as opposed to just this week.