"Who were you trying to reach?"

Question

I work for a law firm, and often times I receive calls from people who only speak Spanish, but sometimes they are trying to call their lenders, or banks and reached my office by mistake. Instead of just hanging up on them, I'd like to be able to help direct their call. How do I ask them, "Who were you trying to reach?" or some version of. Thank you!

One version would be "Whom were you trying to reach?" - samdie, Jul 19, 2011

Answer 1

Also:

¿A quién buscaba?

Whom were you looking for? I agree this works in this context. - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

Answer 2

Different story altogether to say:

¿Con quién quisiera / quiere hablar?

and

¿Con quién quería hablar?

The first sentence would be a typical question asked by a receptionist who is picking up the phone. The difference between quisiera and quiere is simply a question of politeness.

The second is asking: Who were you trying to reach (but you didn't reach) ?

Alsogo with Dakie:

¿A quién buscaba? A quién quería localizar?

As you can see the tense is always imperfect.

Answer 3

I would say:

¿Con quién se quería comunicar?

Answer 4

¿Con quién quisiera comunicarse?

Great minds think alike! :-) - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

Whom are you trying to reach vs Whom were you trying to reach. - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

this would be: who would you like to talk with...not the same thing - 00494d19, Jul 19, 2011

Well, Heidita, they are on the phone so they are trying to reach them so that they can talk to them. - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

This construction is used all the time: No me pude comunicar con ellos = I couldn't get a hold of them/couldn't reach them. - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

Unless you meant that "imperfect subjunctive" should not be used in this context, then I agree. - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011

Answer 5

¿Con quién usted quiere hablar?

Is this one right?

Probably more polite to say "¿Con quién quisiera hablar?" - With whom would you like to speak? - gintar77, Jul 19, 2011