Saying no

Thank you very much for the request. I appreciate it. At the moment I have a lot on my plate. Due to limited time I will not be able to do good work on the project you propose.

Thank you for thinking of me.

At that time I am not available. I’m sorry.

Thank you for the invitation.

I believe I do not have skills to do this well. I see two possibilities:

1. I can recommend another person, who may be able to help you.

2. If you accept that I need extra time to learn more about this, I will be happy to try to help.

Thank you. I feel honoured that you think of me in this regard.

I need to know more. May I please ask you these 3 questions: