How to ask a girl out when she keeps saying she's swamped but still replies

Look at how fast she answers, how long her messages are, and whether she ever asks you a question back. A woman who writes a full answer to something you said, and asks what you're up to next, is showing interest even while she's busy. A woman who replies a day later with one line and nothing to pick up is telling you the thread is low on her list.

The swamped line on its own tells you very little. What matters is whether the rest of her messages carry any warmth. If they do, she's probably short on time and would like to see you, and she needs you to make it easy. If they don't, the busy line is more likely a polite way of not committing, and pushing for a date will just make things awkward. Figure out which one you're looking at before you write anything.

A good ask names a day, gives a rough time window, and says what you'd be doing. Something like a drink after work near her place, with a clear stop time if she's tired. That gives her one thing to accept or decline, and declining costs her nothing. It works because it shrinks the decision.

Leave out any apology for asking, any joke about how busy she is that makes the plan sound like a favour she's doing you, and any second question stacked on the first. Keep the message to the plan. If she wants a different time or place, she can say so in her reply. Your job is to be easy to say yes to, not to pre-negotiate every detail.

Pick a moment when she's likely to have a few minutes to spare, usually midday or early evening on a weekday, not the morning of a deadline. If she's just said the week is brutal, wait for the first lighter moment in her messages, even if that's a day or two later. Sending the ask into a stress spike makes it look like one more thing on her list.

If she doesn't answer, give it a day or two and then send one short line about something you're both into, so the conversation stays alive without re-asking. If she still doesn't come back to the plan after that, drop it for a while and let her start the next thread. If she picks a different date, take it. If her replies keep getting shorter after two clear asks, stop asking and let her decide whether she wants to keep texting at all.