Tenses in German is an interesting and, in principle, easy topic to learn. Unlike English or Spanish, for example, there are not a huge number of tense categories. And the use of the past tense does not depend at all on the moment the action was performed.
Difference between perfect and preterite
Contrary to popular belief, tenses in German are absolutely independent of the moment of action. For example, in English, if we do something today, then the past perfect will be used, and if yesterday or earlier, then the simple Past: "I bought a car today." I have bought a car today. But: "I bought a car yesterday" is translated differently: I bought a car yesterday.
German has completely different rules. Regardless of the moment of the action, it will most likely be used Perfect:
I habe mir heute/gesttern/vorgerstern ein Auto gekauft.
Why "most likely"? Because there are still certain rules for using tenses in German. Let's take a closer look at them.
Past perfect tense in German
Perfekt is used mainly in colloquial speech. That is, if you talk to other people, tell them about events in the past, then this is always the past perfect, that is, the perfect.
Pluskvaperfect, which allegedly expresses an event that took place before another past event, is almost never used in conversation. As well as the future second (Futurum II) is extremely rare to hear from friends and acquaintances. Tenses in German generally go in the direction of simplification.
Simple German preterite
The past tense is used in book speech, in mass media texts (newspapers, magazines, analytical and news articles).
However, it should be remembered that if in the book we see some kind of dialogue between the characters, then it is also in the perfect. After all, dialogue, even if it is bookish, is still colloquial speech.
Besides, we use the past simple when we talk about the biography of some personalities (for example, "Mozart lived and studied in Salzburg" let's say Mozart wohnte und studierte in Salzburg).
There is, however, a special group of verbs, which even in colloquial speech is used in the preterite. These are primarily modal verbs. Very rarely, when the Germans say, for example, "I wanted to eat" in the perfect, for this they would rather choose the past simple. So, not Ich habe essen gewollt, but simply ich wollte essen. This is done to facilitate sentences, since a huge number of verbs makes it heavier andmakes speech more difficult.
So it is in Germany (in Austria and Switzerland, the "perfect" form still prevails). For example, "I thought" or "did you know?" they will not say ich hab gedacht and hast du gewusst?, but rather ich dachte, wusstest du?. Imperfekt is also used for verbs denoting the word "to speak" (say, share an opinion, think): er sagte - he said; sie meinte - she believed (considered).
