Would you tell me which one is correct: "you called the wrong person" or "you are calling the wrong person" when you get connected with someone mistakenly? For example:
Person A: Is this Dave?
Person B: No, you called/you are calling the wrong person.
I've heard both in the context, but which one is correct and natural?
All three of these are correct:
Person A: Is this Dave?
Person B: No, you are calling the wrong person.
Person A: Is this Dave?
Person B: No, you called the wrong person.
Person A: Is this Dave?
Person B: No, you have the wrong number.
The first one is very awkward and would never really be used. Mainly because the action of "calling" tends to refer to the dialing and hitting the call button rather than to the talking. Since these actions are done in the past "called" makes more sense, therefore, the second version is better, and sounds reasonable. Although, the last one is used almost 99% of the time in this situation, or at least in AmE.
Bonus: The reason the first two are not used is because it sounds less polite. "You called the wrong person." is what I would expect to here in a movie where a son (who has a poor relationship with his father) calls his father asking for help in which case the father would respond "you called the wrong person" as a rude way of saying "I am not going to help you."
Or maybe if a thief calls the police he is hiding from (thinking it is his get away driver) and tells his location. "you called the wrong person" would be a response the policeman would use (especially and mostly in theatrical presentations) to humorously let the thief know that he has called the wrong person.
Example of this usage would usually come with a bit of sarcasm like: "you have called the wrong person, buddy." or "you have called the wrong guy, bucko."
