#194: 14 Better Ways to Say ‘I’m Busy’ [Advanced English Vocabulary]
Of course, at any time of year, we can feel busy or overwhelmed. An unexpected deadline at work. A last-minute meeting. A sick family member who needs extra help. A flat tire that holds up everything else in our day.
But as we get toward the end of the year, that feeling of being busy only increases. There are holiday gifts to shop for and meals to prepare. End of year deadlines and projects to finish. Right now, many of my students are using the word ‘busy.’ But there are better ways to say I’m busy in English.
My goal is always to help you express yourself precisely and effortlessly in English.
The best way to do that is to build your vocabulary strategically with powerful adjectives, collocations, idioms, and phrasal verbs in English.
In today’s lesson, you’ll learn 14 better ways to say “I’m busy” in English plus have the opportunity to practice.
14 Better Ways to Say “I’m Busy” in English
Lesson Summary
Powerful Adjectives & Collocations to Say “I’m Busy” in English
- To be slammed (at work) – extremely busy/overwhelmed
- This week we’re slammed trying to meet the deadline.
- To be swamped/snowed under – extremely busy/overwhelmed
- I’m really swamped at work right now.
- Our office is snowed under with a mountain of paperwork during tax season.
- To keep someone/oneself busy – to keep someone (or yourself) occupied
- If you have some extra time, let me know. I’ve got plenty of tasks to keep you busy
Idioms to Say “I’m Busy” in English
- to burn the candle at both ends – to work extremely or excessively hard; to work too hard for good health or peace of mind
- I’ll be burning the candle at both ends this weekend to get this project finished.
- to have a full plate/to have a lot on one’s plate/to have one’s hands full – too much to do or a lot to deal with right now, which leads to feeling stressed; unable to take on more responsibility
- She’s got her hands full right now with 3 kids under the age of 5 and a sick husband at home.
- To be at maximum capacity – to be unable to take on more responsibilities
- I’m at maximum capacity at work. I can’t handle one more to do request.
- To be at full bandwidth – to have no more mental or emotional energy
- Lara’s at full bandwidth right now so why don’t we ask Suzanne to do this.
- to be up to one’s eyeballs/neck in something – to have an excessive amount of work or too much of something
- Accountants are usually up to their eyeballs in paperwork during tax season.
- To bite off more than you can chew – to take on more work/responsibilities than you are capable of doing
- I said ‘yes’ to too many things this month and now I’m overwhelmed. I think I bit off more than I can chew.
- To have a lot of irons in the fire – to have multiple projects or multiple, unrelated tasks
- We have 3 major projects with deadlines coming soon, so I have a lot of irons in the fire at work right now. I have very little time to concentrate on just one thing.
Phrasal Verbs to Say “I’m Busy” in English
- To be tied up (at the moment) – to be too busy at the moment and unavailable or unable to do something else
- I’m sorry, I’m going to be late coming home because I’m tied up at work.
Related Lessons
If you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, learn how to say no politely in English.
Feeling overwhelmed? Learn how to simplify your life or create better work-from-home strategies.
Consider how to establish Well-Being at Work or How to Request Someone’s Time/Help.
Or try one of these strategies for Time Management.
As always, the best way to learn and remember new vocabulary is to get consistent, repeated practice. And here’s your chance!
Choose 2-3 of your favorite new expressions from today’s lesson.
Then use them in your own example sentences. Think of your life right now. What makes you feel busy? What is making you feel overwhelmed or stressed?
As always, you can share with me in the comments below. It’s the best way to practice, get feedback, and learn from others in the Confident English Community.
~ Annemarie
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What about just say “I am disorganised” or even “I am poor at time management”.
being busy does not make you poor at time management, LOL
All the lessons you share are really interesting, and very good examples to practice.
Hi,
It is very useful lessons to make the conversion more fun and interesting. Here are my examples using the expression I learned from this session.
Nicely done, Chih Yeu! I like the examples you’ve shared!!
One little note, the specific words we use for example 2 are “to burn the candle at both ends.” I removed the word ‘the’ in front of both and includes the -s on the word ends. So your sentence would read, “She burns the candle at both ends and tries…”
Thanks so much for sharing here.
I really love your lessons, thank you:)
Thank you. 😊
Hello
Nowadays I have many, many situations to be extremely busy.
Let´s me give you some examples
Last week I was really slammed in the hospital because due to snow, many, many people
got injured. If you allow me, we were snowed under the consequences of snow.
During 2020 year, doctors and nurses have been burning the candle at both ends
I could share many many more feelings about how busy I was last year and on the other hand how I going to be tied up in 2021.
Thanks for your help At this time they are useful expressions.
Dear Annemarie,
It would be great if I could have watched this video one week before, but I got my hands full.
I would love, when my brother-in-law and his wife have told us that they are always who are coming to visit us, to reply: I would love to come and visit you but I’am tied up at work;)!
I hope I’ll remember it for next time.
Thank you for useful lessons.
Khadija
Dear Annemarie,
I choose these expressions :
Excuse me Claire could you call me later ? I am slammed at work
In this period I am snowed under my paper works …lessons , courses ….
We are following at work 3 projects at the same time … I have a lot of irons in the fire ,
Well done, Luisa. Thanks for sharing your examples.
Hello Annemarie. Happy New Year! It was a very helpful lesson, like always
Thank you a lot
Nicely done, Olga. These are great examples of how to use some of the idioms from this lesson.
Hi Annemarie, happy New Year! Wish you peace, happiness and health in 2021.
Thank you for all your lessons!
I’m so sorry. I have got my hands full around the New Year so these video lessons were not completed until today. These lessons are very useful to me. Thank you for your energy and time.
I’m so glad to know that these lessons are helpful to you, Liping!
Hi Annemarie,
Thank you for the lesson. It was really helpful!
Regards,
Karen
Great examples here, Karen!
1. Last year a day like today we were swamped at work preparing the last presentation of the year.
2. Sorry you can’t count on me today, I have a lot of things on my plate.
Hello, Annemarie
This lesson is very beneficial .
With Regards
Indra
Well done, Indra! You’ve got some great examples with idioms from this lesson.
excellent as usual!
Being a doctor, I was requisitioned to ensure guards at Covid-19 department, I am really feeling swamped.
When I am at home, my two kids are keeping me up to my eyeballs.
( please I am not feeling that the noun guards is correct but I didn’t find a better translation from French :/)
Hey Annemarie,
Thank’s a lot for your very helpful lesson with many interesting examples 🙂
Here are my sentences:
Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Best
Agnieszka
Love these examples, Agnieszka! Nicely done.
Her Annemarie, I love this lesson, so I ‘m moving to a new city and I ‘m tied up packing.
That why I have a lot of iron in the fire 🔥
Thank you for your time
Good luck in your move, Paola! I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson.
Good morning Anne
Firstly I would like to thank you for the lesson it was powerful and fruitfull.
Examples:
I think I ‘ll be burning the candle at both sides this coming weekend ,we are expecting many guest for this wedding.
I was stressed that I couldn’t help my colleague, my hands were full .
I am regretting that I didn’t type my reports for last two days now I have to bite off more than I can chew and today is the submission day.
My helper is off today I m tied up ,I m all by myself.
I loved this lesson! So many alternative way to express the amount of work. Here’s my practice: The last 3 years I used to have a lot of irons in the fire handling several complex projects at the same time. Now, with my new role, my plate has been cleared up. Since we are working from home, the experience have vary from being swapped transforming our services to make them fully digital to have some free capacity, nevertheless we always find ways to keep ourselves at full capacity whether it could be taking some online training or implementing new practices… Read more »
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Xeni!
Sounds like a lot of work switching your company’s services to be fully digital!
Hey Annemarie, Happy new year. Thanks for this great lesson. I needed it. I am looking forward to joining your fluency school next year. Here’re my examples I’ve got my hands full with finishing my projects and writing my goals for 2021. I’d love to go shopping in sales but I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. I am going to hang out at Christmas with my family, I hope no one will be tied up at work this time. I am working on myself to be able to say no so that I no longer bite off… Read more »
Oh, wonderful examples here, Nada! Nicely down.
I hope 2021 is starting the way you had hoped. And we’d certainly love to have you join us for Fluency School!
Good morning Dear Annemarie, thanks again for your excellent and motivated lesson.
* By exercising, walking and biking, I burn the candles at both ends to keep myself healthy and let the energy flow into my body.
* Educating myself through Toastmasters club and excellent Speak Confident English lessons, I am at maximum capacity to handle unnecessary promotion and social emails.
* Although I am retired I have a lot of irons in the fire at home with my daily chores, so I barely find time to answer to my friend’s phone calls or to their emails.
You’ve got some great examples here, Nasrin!
One note about the idiom ‘to burn the candle at both ends.’ We use this idiom to say that we work or do other things from early in the morning until late at night and so get very little rest.
For example, if you’re trying to get a project finished on time, you might work 12 hours (from morning to night) to get it finished.
The example provided gives me the picture that you’re exercising nonstop from sun up to sun down. Is that accurate?
Thanks a lot, Annemarie! My favorites: burning the candle at both ends, be at full bandwidth, and as a proverb “Don’t bite more than you can chew” There is a similar idiom in Bulgarian “This is not a spoon fitted yo your mouth”
Thanks for sharing a similar idiom you have in Bulgarian! I love that. Now that you’ve got some new idioms in English, how would you use one of them in your own sentence?
Thank you for sharing with me.
I can’t come to the party, I’ll be tied up at this moment
My coworker is on leave, I’m slammed at awork
Sorry ! I can’t call you, I’m swamed doing my homework