busy

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello

Can I say

I found that question

choose:

I am busy " repair- to repair -have repaired" my car.

I know the natural answer can be “repairing” my car.

Can we use " to repair" instead to mean the opposite (I have no time) ?

Can a noun follow “busy” ?

2

I think it’s called “Subjective infinitive construction” : Noun + verb + infinitive. This is exactly that you wrote: “I am busy to repair my car”, and the meaning is that you don;t have time to repair your car.

3

Ahmed, I think you mean to say “I am too busy to repair my car.” But your post is not totally clear to me.

“I am busy repairing my car” means you are in the process of doing just that.

Nouns follow “busy” when “busy” is an adjective. “He is a busy person.”

4

I know this is correct , but I wanted to know what would it be If I remove “too” .

I think, then , the question is wrong.

5

I am busy repairing my car = I am repairing my car now.
I have repaired my car = I have finished repairing my car.
I am too busy to repair my car. = I don’t have enough time to repair my car.
I am busy having repaired my car. = I have finished repairing my car and now I am busy doing something else.

I am busy to repair my car = incorrect.

6

I expected that , thanks

7

Thank you!

8

Beeesneees,

  1. I am too busy to repair my car. = I don’t have enough time to repair my car.
  2. I am busy to repair my car. (incorrect)
    I couldn’t understand how #2 is wrong.
    Please explain to me so that I can grasp it.
    Thanks.
9

You need ‘too —’ with ‘to+infinitive’ where you are indicating that something is excessive (to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible)
too busy to stop
too thirsty to eat
too slow to catch the bus
too quiet to be heard
too heavy to lift