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I'm looking for idiomatic expressions (particularly from Mexico and other parts of Latin America) to say things like "Sorry for telling you about this at/on such short notice." ... that is, how do people generally say "on short notice"?

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  • sin aviso previo
    – aris
    May 10, 2019 at 6:31

5 Answers 5

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I would go with something like :

Lamento avisarte con tan poca antelación.

Lamento avisarte con tan poco tiempo.

Lamento avisarte de esto con tan poco margen.

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  • Thanks for your suggestions Diego. But wouldn't those mean "with so little time" and "with so little room/margin/space", respectively? Are those just more idiomatic ways of saying the same thing in Spanish (i.e. even though they translate very differently is that generally how Spanish speakers express "with such short notice")?
    – J. Taylor
    Sep 14, 2014 at 6:03
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    @JesseTaylor, OK, I edited it to add "antelación". See if you like it better. Also notice that you can't always go for a "literal" translation, but the one that makes sense for the Spanish speakers (What do they use when they need to say the same?).
    – Diego
    Sep 14, 2014 at 12:04
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    All sound ok to me (Argentina). Instead of "antelación" we also use "anticipación".
    – leonbloy
    Sep 14, 2014 at 13:38
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In addition to Diego's answer, some related idiomatic expressions (at least in Argentina) are "sobre la hora" and "a último momento".

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Well the correct (and literal) translation would be:

Disculpa que te avise al respecto tan apresuradamente.

since you want to know variations more idiomatic of this kind of expression, in some places of Mexico, as where I live, would be better to say:

Disculpa que no te avisara con (más) tiempo.

On short notice (American english) or at short notice (British English) could be simply con tiempo or con más tiempo in Mexico. I don't remember if there is a more idiomatic expression for this.

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How about, '... tan corto plazo' ?

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  • corto plazo is like, .. short term, not short notice. I think you could get away with saying corto aviso though, maybe.
    – dockeryZ
    Sep 17, 2014 at 20:51
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I would say "con tan poco tiempo" as Diego mentioned, or "con tan poca noticia."

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    As a native Speaker, "con tan poca noticia" doesn't sound the best to me. It sounds like (and means what) "I'm sorry for telling you about this with such brief news" would sound to an English speaker.
    – Diego
    Sep 14, 2014 at 12:21

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