77077
I came across the following sentence:

その次の週は空いてますか。

  1. Why would they say 次の週 instead of 来週?
  2. Why would they say その before 次の週? Would この also work?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-05T15:26:45.800
77075
2020-05-05T16:46:31.350
36978
question
words
What is the difference between 次の週 and 来週?
**Why would they say 次の週 instead of 来週?**

Because like the phrase `next week` in English, `来週` is generally assumed to
be relative to the time when it is uttered.

> 来週は空いていますか。
>
> Are (you) free next week?

Is a question about whether someone is free in the next week after whenever it
was asked. `来週` is not really used to talk about relative time in reference to
anything other than the present. [次の週 can do
that](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/21190/7705), though.

> その次の週は空いてますか。
>
> Are (you) free the following week (after some particular week)?

**Why would they say その before 次の週?**

To make it clear that this is the week after some relevant particular week.
You might also think of this, meaning wise, like `それの次の週`, where `それ` is some
week. As the post linked above says, this is optional, but frequently used.

**Would この also work?**

I would not expect to see `この` here in most cases, though I can conceive of
situations where it could be appropriate, like if both parties were in front
of a calendar and the speaker were pointing at weeks. I am not going to write
an in-depth explanation of the difference between `その` and `この` here, as that
doesn't seem to be what the question is about.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-05T16:21:02.727
77077
2020-05-05T16:46:31.350
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
7705
77075
answer