amles80 (amles80) wrote in linguaphiles,
2012-09-07 18:22:00

French phrase: Je n’ai pas trop la tête à ça

Hi, can someone please tell me what the phrase "Je n’ai pas trop la tête à ça" means?

Tags: french, idioms, whatdoesthissay
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  • 15 comments

kaizopp

September 7 2012, 16:36:23 UTC 8 months ago

It's when you're not in the mood or right frame of mind to do something. Like "do you want to go to a party tonight?" "Non, j'ai pas la tête à ça." It doesn't say anything specific, like, sad, or tired, or moody. Just not the right frame of mind for a particular activity.

rheasilvia

September 7 2012, 17:05:45 UTC 8 months ago Edited:  September 7 2012, 17:06:09 UTC

Interestingly enough, the same expression exists in German, though there it denotes the head in question being too full of other things to allow the speaker to think/worry/care/... about whatever it is right now.

"Da hab ich jetzt nicht den Kopf für..." / "Da hab ich grad keinen Kopf für..."

beix_brittany

September 7 2012, 18:40:18 UTC 8 months ago

In French too; it may imply this

klaudyna

September 8 2012, 08:33:04 UTC 8 months ago

We also have this in Polish: "Nie mam do tego głowy" - literally "I don't have the head for this". :)

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:30:24 UTC 8 months ago

Yes, that's interesting, because that's similar, but not quite the same thing. The same expression in Swedish ("det har jag inte huvud för") is something entirely different: It means "I'm not intelligent enough for it". (But I already knew from the context that that wasn't it, here.)

dorsetgirl

September 7 2012, 18:41:54 UTC 8 months ago

Sounds like it means the same as the English phrase "I'm really not in the mood..."

lareinemisere

September 7 2012, 20:49:53 UTC 8 months ago

I sometimes say 'I'm not really in the right headspace', which would keep the translation of 'tête' satisfactorily close.

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:31:20 UTC 8 months ago

Thank you!

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:27:32 UTC 8 months ago

Thank you! I guessed it was something like that, but I wasn't sure. :)

nomenclatures

September 7 2012, 18:16:04 UTC 8 months ago

it breaks down literally into "I don't have enough head for that/it".

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:32:10 UTC 8 months ago

Yes, but I wasn't sure about how to take it. I think I get it now, though. :)

carerica

September 7 2012, 21:35:22 UTC 8 months ago

It's sounds like it's along the lines of "I've got too much on my plate right now for that.."

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:34:10 UTC 8 months ago

That sounds good, thank you!

milune

September 11 2012, 20:14:07 UTC 8 months ago

Hello!Here's a poor translation from France! I would say "I have other things to think about at the moment",or "my mind is elsewhere for the moment" "this isn't an immediate preoccupation" ;
Is this of a little help...?
What do you think?
A

amles80

September 12 2012, 13:35:32 UTC 8 months ago

Thank you! That fits the context very well.