The Past Tenses
Past simple, perfect and past perfect
a) Perfect of past?
In many cases, using either the perfect or the past simple is only a question of style.
Also valid is:
| Ich habe im Zug gesessen und gelesen. |
b) Spoken language
In the spoken language, the past simple is used more frequently in the north of Germany and the perfect more in the south.
| Gestern habe ich eingekauft. |
| Yesterday I went shopping. |
| - |
| In Spanien bin ich jeden Tag geschwommen. |
| In Spain, I swam every day. |
In the spoken langauge, the past simple is used with auxiliary verbs and modal verbs.
| Gestern war ich im Kino. |
| Yesterday I went to the cinema. |
| - |
| Neulich wollte ich dich anrufen. |
| A while ago I wanted to call you. |
You can't use the past simple to talk about past events that have an effect in the present. In these phrases, the perfect is obligatory.
| Es hat die ganze Nacht geschneit, deshalb ist die ganze Stadt so weiß. |
| It was snowing all night that's why the whole is so white. |
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Exercises
Translate these phrases of spoken langauge using the pefect. However, use the past simple when you consider it the right option.
(Click in the box to see the answers, double click to return to the original)
