Ways to say it
| Japanese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| 忙しい | isogashii | [iso̞ɡa̠ɕiː] (narrow) [se̞β̞a̠ɕiː] (narrow) |
| 使用中 | shiyō-chū |
Use 忙しい to describe a person who is engaged or preoccupied with tasks. For more specific nuances, you might use 多忙な to convey being extremely busy, 予定がいっぱいです to politely say your schedule is full or the colloquial 仕事が山積みだ to say work is piling up. In very casual settings, the slang めちゃ忙しい can be used to mean super busy or crazy busy.
Which one should you use?
While 忙しい (isogashii) describes a person being busy with tasks, 使用中 (shiyō-chū) is used to indicate that a facility, such as a restroom or a room, is currently occupied or in use.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
To be more respectful and polite, especially with acquaintances or superiors, add です to the end to say 忙しいです. For casual, informal situations, you can use 忙しいよ to say you are busy or swamped.
How do you pronounce it?
isogashii
Did you know?
- The kanji for 忙しい consists of the radicals for 'heart' and 'death', visually suggesting the stress of a frantic pace.
- In Japanese business culture, saying 忙しいです (isogashii desu) to a superior can sometimes be interpreted as a subtle complaint or a sign of poor time management.
- There is a fascinating linguistic theory that the word for 'busy' is cognate with the word for 'narrow', 狭い (semai). This implies that being busy is conceptually similar to 'lacking space' or 'lacking time'.
Examples in context
- 僕は忙しい。I'm busy.This sentence shows a simple way to say 'I'm busy' using 忙しい.Tatoeba #81751 by wat, translation #261721 by CK
- 今は忙しい。I'm busy at the moment.This sentence shows how to say 'I'm busy at the moment' using 忙しい.Tatoeba #172628 by KK_kaku_, translation #40152 by CK
- 忙しいです。I am busy.This sentence demonstrates the polite form 忙しいです.Tatoeba #1683211 by bunbuku, translation #2425776 by bionicboy
- 彼は多忙ですHe is very busy.
- 最近、仕事が山積みだLately, work is piling up.
- 申し訳ありませんが、現在忙しいです。I'm sorry, but I'm currently busy.
- 今忙しいんだよ！I'm busy now, you know!
- 274 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Yota and Misaki are talking on the phone.
- 陽太 Yota美咲、今、忙しい？Misaki, ima, isogashii?Misaki, are you busy right now?
- 美咲 Misakiいいえ、大丈夫だよ。Iie, daijoubu da yo.No, I'm okay.
- 陽太 Yota少し話せるかな？Sukoshi hanaseru kana?Can we talk for a bit?
- 美咲 Misakiもちろん、陽太。何かな？Mochiron, Yota. Nan kana?Of course, Yota. What is it?
Sources
- Wiktionary, “busy” translations and entries 忙しい, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 忙しい, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
