How to say if someone was not available at a certain time?

[pstein]

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

[prezbucky]

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.

[Molly]