How to say I've been meaning to do something

[vvazquez7333]

I'm writing a message to my friend in Tokyo in Japanese and I'm wondering how to say I've been meaning to do something but haven't gotten around to it yet. Sorry if this is an obvious question I have not been studying for very long.

[harveyhammond910_500764]

If you have any news to send to your friend use friendly writing which is not a formal one so that your friend will be more pleased with you.

[community.japanese]

harveyhammond910 san, vvazquez7333 san,

If you write a letter to your close friend, you can use casual form.
In other cases, I recommend you to use polite form.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[vvazquez7333]

My question is really more about how to express that I've had the desire to do something for some amount of time but I have not done it yet. Or to say that writing this letter has been on my mind but certain circumstances have prevented me from doing it. In English we might say "I've been meaning to write this letter but I've been busy at work" or something like that. I wrote the letter already but I'm still curious.

[vvazquez7333]

My question is really more about how to express that I've had the desire to do something for some amount of time but I have not done it yet. Or to say that writing this letter has been on my mind but certain circumstances have prevented me from doing it. In English we might say "I've been meaning to write this letter but I've been busy at work" or something like that. I wrote the letter already but I'm still curious.

[1214]

Hey, hows it going.

To say you wanted to do something, you can use Verb(食べ）+たかった。Then add a reason for not being able to do it afterwards. Like, X に行（い）きたかったけど、予定（よてい）がありました(I wanted to go, but i already had plans/something else on). You can flip that around and start with the reason, but then you would have to use V+なかった instead:

予定がありましたから、行かなかったです。 Because i already had plans, i couldn't go.

ずっと手紙を書きたかったですが、時間がありませんからできなかったです。I always wanted to write a letter, but due to lack of time i haven't been able to(do it).

or you could go for something alot more casual depending on how close you are with this person and write:

最近（さいきん）時間（じかん）があんまりないので、手紙（てがみ）を書かなかった、すみません！m(_ _)m。

Anyway, im pretty awful at explaining and of course there is the possibility of errors, but to me it makes sense, and it will make sense to a Japanese person as well, this is definitely not the only way to do what you are trying to do. Feel free to point out any errors or ask any questions ^^.

－１２１４

[community.japanese]

1214 san,
Thank you for helping vvazquez7333 san.
Your explanation is good.

vvazquez7333 san,
More common sentences are below.
Because I already had plans, i couldn't go.
予定がありましたから、行けませんでした。

I always wanted to write a letter, but due to lack of time i haven't been able to(do it).
ずっと手紙を書きたいと思っていましたが、時間がありませんからできませんでした。

Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[vvazquez7333]

ありがとございます !

[community.japanese]

vvazquez7333

どういたしましまして。

Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[nugentgregg_508679]

Really a great supportive work. It will clear the doubt of many one.

[community.japanese]

　さん、
konnichiwa.
Thank you for your post.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[ponti777]

Just want to point out some little mistakes that are making the sentence sound awkward.

1)

予定がありましたから、行かなかったです。 Because i already had plans, i couldn't go.

（別の）【予定がありましたので/予定が入っていましたので】、行けませんでした。(polite way of saying)
or （別の）【予定があったので/予定があったから/予定が入ってたので/予定が入っていたから】、行けなかった。
would be the perfect Japanese.

ありましたから sounds a bit awkward to me.
Furthermore, 行かなかった conveys your will that you have decided not to go, and that is too strong message to convey in Japanese
(the translation would be more like: Because I already had plans, I decided not to go.).
By using 行けませんでした you can convey your sad feelings that you wanted to go but couldn't, and it's mild enough expression.

2)

ずっと手紙を書きたかったですが、時間がありませんからできなかったです。I always wanted to write a letter, but due to lack of time i haven't been able to(do it).

ずっと手紙を書きたかったのですが、時間がなかなかとれず今日（に至る）まで【書けませんでした/書きそびれてしまいました】。※今日 should be read こんにち not きょう
would be the perfect Japanese.

時間がありませんからできなかったです。is very awkward for 2 reasons.
1. 時間がありませんからできません。is ok because both 時間がありません and できません are present tenses, however, できなかった is past tense.
2. できなかったです is not a correct polite saying (some old people would get angry), and you should use できませんでした instead.
It's not a big deal but できませんでした is too vague so I would rather use 書けませんでした instead.

3)

最近（さいきん）時間（じかん）があんまりないので、手紙（てがみ）を書かなかった、すみません！m(_ _)m。

The same goes for here.

最近（忙しく）時間があまりなかったので、手紙を書けなかった。ごめん！m(_ _)m
would be the perfect Japanese.

[community.japanese]

ponti777 san,
こんにちは。
Thank you for your useful comments.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com