How do you say "about to" in German?
For example, how would you say the following sentences:
I'm about to leave.
I was about to eat when she phoned.

Question

Answer

There is an exact translation, although it's not literal:  'im Begriff sein etwas zu tun'

Ich bin im Begriff zu gehen. Ich war im Begriff zu essen, als...
https://www.linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/uebersetzung/im+begriff+sein+etwas+zu+tun.html

or 'bin gerade dabei etwas zu tun', as Benjamin said.

Answer

There is no direct Translation of "I'm about to...". Depending on the context you have several possibilities to express this. Some examples:

- Ich wollte gerade mit dem Essen anfangen, als...
- Ich war kurz davor, befördert zu werden, als ich mich entschloss, den Job zu wechseln.
- Ich gehe gleich los.  / Ich muss jetzt weg. 
A colloquial way of saying "I'm about to leave" is: "Ich bin auf dem Sprung".

Answer

There's no literal translation as far as I can tell, but I'd simply fall back on: "kurz davor sein, etw. zu tun".
So for your examples it would go like this:

"Ich bin kurz davor zu gehen/ aufzubrechen."
"Ich war kurz davor zu essen, als sie mich anrief."

Alternatively you can use: "gerade dabei sein, etw. zu tun", but I'd only use it with changes of state. So when you leave, you can't really be in the process of leaving; you're either in or out. Here, it is possible to apply the second version. But if you were to apply it to eating, it would mean that you already started eating, since eating is a process which unfolds over the course of time.
So for your example it is also possible to say:

"Ich bin gerade dabei zu gehen."

Hope that helps! :)

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