meşgul müsün?
In Turkish, "are you busy?" is expressed as meşgul müsün?
The phrase is used to ask if someone is currently occupied and unavailable to talk or help.
What does it mean word for word?
The word meşgul means 'busy' and müsün is the second-person singular question particle for 'are you'.
Which one should you use?
While meşgul müsün? asks if someone is occupied, müsait misin? is a more common and softer way to ask if someone is 'available' or has a moment to talk. Additionally, Yoğun musun? is another informal way to ask if someone is busy.
How does it change in a sentence?
To address more than one person or to use a polite form, use meşgul müsünüz? instead of meşgul müsün?
When do people say it?
If you are asked this, a standard way to answer 'No, I am not busy' is Hayır, değilim, while a standard way to answer 'Yes, I am busy' is Evet, meşgulüm.
Did you know?
- When responding to meşgul müsün?, saying Hayır, değilim is grammatically precise, but in casual conversation, people often just say Boşum, which means 'I am empty'.
- While meşgul describes a state of being occupied, the word yoğun literally means 'dense' or 'thick', used metaphorically to describe a 'dense' schedule.
- The word meşgul is a linguistic traveler from Arabic, making it a direct cognate with the word 'mośgul' used in Bengali.
Examples in context
- Müsait misiniz? Yarın 10 dakikanızı alabilir miyim?Are you busy? Can I take 10 minutes of your time tomorrow?
- Meşgul musun? Sinemaya gelmek ister misin?Are you busy? Do you want to come to the cinema?
- Şu an meşgul müsün?Are you busy right now?
- Bir dakika, meşgul müsün?One minute, are you busy?
- Önemli bir şey soracağım, meşgul müsün?I will ask something important, are you busy?
Example conversation
Elif calls Can at his workplace to ask a quick question.
- ElifCan, meşgul müsün?Can, are you busy?
- CanBiraz meşgulüm, neden?I am a bit busy, why?
- ElifSadece kısa bir şey soracaktım.I was just going to ask something short.
- CanTamam, seni dinliyorum.Okay, I am listening to you.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries meşgul, CC BY-SA 4.0.
