# I’m guessing you called me by mistake



## szapl0ve

I missed a call from someone that I have had no contact with for a long time. While I’d like to think it was made deliberately, I can’t unilaterally rule out a simple “butt-dial” explanation. In any case I’d like to respond with something more subtle than:

나한테 실수로 잘못 걸었어요?

That feels a little too direct. I want rather to express the trepidation I have in assuming the call was made on purpose by emphasizing my conjecture that it was made by mistake. The only other alternatives my limited Korean affords me include, among others: ~(으)ㄹ까; ~(으)ㄹ것같아; or ~(으)ㄹ텐데 though I’ve never felt comfortable using ㄹ텐데. I figure this is as good a time as any to try it out.

Basically, what I would say in English is:

“I’m guessing you called me by mistake...”

What I really want to emphasize is the ellipsis at the end. I want to kind of give permission to not respond to my conjecture, rather than force a simple “yes” or “no” answer. So, would this be correct?

나한테 실수로 걸었을텐데...


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## Aaryln

So, in this case you would say, "혹시 전화를 잘 못 거셨나 해서...(전화드렸습니다)" The sentence you wrote, "나한테 실수로 걸었을텐데..." sounds like you don't expect an answer from the other person so the conversation would be awkward. I hope this answers your question.


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## pcy0308

Hello szapl0ve,
Yes it is direct indeed. Aside from sounding a bit confrontational and, of course, having little to almost no subtlety at all haha, "나한테 실수로 잘못 걸었어요" may come across as somewhat inquisitive and even presumptive depending on the situation.

You'd say "나한테 실수로 걸었을 텐데" when you are more or less sure the person in question actually did call you by mistake or pocket dialed you. In other words, to a lesser degree but still it sounds kind of presumptive, conjectural, and inquisitive as if you were expecting an answer out of this person, which clearly is not what you are going for here.

In addition to the suggestion above, you could also say something like, "혹시 실수로 (전화) 거셨나 해서...", "부재중 전화를 받았는데 실수로 거셨나 해서...", "실수로 거신 것 같은데 혹시나 해서..." and so on. Hope this helps.


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