Assume I speak with a person and want to tell him that I tried to
call him yesterday without success. What would be the best (or
the opposite what would be wrong):
“yesterday I tried to call you by phone but…
…I didn’t catch you”
…I didn’t get you"
…I didn’t reach you"
?
Peter
Those are fine, IMO. On the last one, you might say “…I couldn’t reach you” (instead of using “didn’t”), but that’s really a fairly minor point.
You might also say something like “…you weren’t there” or “…you didn’t answer” – though both of those might make it seem as if you’re trying to make the person feel guilty.
“I didn’t” sounds odd to me. Isn’t it obvious to the listener that the caller didn’t reach him? “I couldn’t reach you” has a feeling of "Can you tell me why? or “it was impossible to reach you”.