日本語道場
Nihongo Dojo — N3 → N2
N2
~ところを
~tokoro o
at a time when (interrupting)
When to use it
Use ~ところを when you break into, or acknowledge breaking into, a situation already under way — most often as a polite preface in business (お忙しいところを…, ご多忙のところを…). It also appears in reporting to mark a course of events that would have unfolded a certain way but was diverted (本来なら〜ところを). The を marks the interrupted situation as the object of the intruding action, so a transitive verb of disturbance (お邪魔する, 失礼する, 恐縮する, 引き止める) or a reversal typically follows.
Formation
Examples
Thank you for making time when you're so busy.
I'm sorry to trouble you when you're busy, but please confirm.
Sorry to interrupt your break — I have an urgent matter.
It would normally have been rejected, but the director pushed it through.
I'm sorry for holding you up just as you were leaving.