Check out today’s Teatime Titbit: Speak like a native: Promises, promises
At the end of a telephone call you often make some kind of promise to the other and German speakers often say something like: “I call you back first thing tomorrow”.
We actually use the future ‘will’ form so “I’ll call you back first thing tomorrow”
Here are some other examples:
- “I’ll write/mail* you the details in due course.”
- “I’ll ask/have a word with* my boss and get back to you a.s.a.p.”
- “I’ll process/get right on with* processing your order.”
- “I’ll put/pop* the confirmation in the mail immediately.”
- “I’ll arrange/set up* an appointment with XYZ and send you confirmation.”
- “I’ll look into the matter and get back to you as soon as I can.”
- “I’ll sleep on the matter/it* and give my decision before the end of the week.”
- “I’ll let you know my ETA as soon as I get around to* arranging the flight.”
- “I’ll be in touch.”
- “I’ll have my assistant take care of it and you’ll have it before the end of the day.”
* (colloquial)
And please don’t make the typical “We’ll see us on Friday” mistake. “I’ll see you on Friday”
Happy promising! But remember to only my promises you can keep – it’s bad to break a promise.
in due course (zur gegebener Zeit), to get right on with sth* (mit etw gleich anfangen), to look into the matter (der Sache nachgehen), to sleep on the matter/it* (etw überschlafen), ETA = estimated time of arrival (voraussichtliche Ankunftszeit), to get around to sth* (zu etw kommen)
Great that you differentiate between colloquial and formal expressions, thanks. Sometimes it’s a bit confusing which term to use for your counterpart. Occasionally you want to speak like a native but then you use slang while talking to your supervisor – or worse: client. 😉