English Translation
I went home.
I thought ‘I have gone home’ would be a better translation
The Germans prefer present perfect tense over simple past tense to describe past events. In English it’s the other way around, with simple past tense being preferred:
Ich habe es gesehen = I saw it (I have seen it)
Er hat es getan = he did it (he has done it)
Wir haben das Motorrad repariert = we repaired the motorcycle (we have repaired it)
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Exactly right. For some odd reason, many Germans prefer the perfect.
There are, however, also Germans who the prefer simple past over the perfect. 
So please don’t feel compelled to use the perfect when you naturally would use the simple past, just to conform with German idiosyncrasies. It’s perfectly fine in Germany to use the simple past.
Especially in (business) writing, the simple past should be preferred, simply because it’s more concise than the perfect. Particularly in professional settings, it’s appreciated to communicate concisely. And because I dislike talking differently from how I write, I try to talk how I write.
Meaning, I’m one of those Germans who, as with English, prefers the simple past. I myself would have said:
Ich ging nach Hause.
To the person listening to me (or reading my email), the second word (“ging”) already told them what I was doing, whereas with the perfect, that person would have to wait until the fifth word (“gegangen”) before they finally were told what I was doing.
Ich bin nach Hause gegangen.
If you ever applied for something and, while reading the answer, wondered whether it will turn out to be an acceptance or a rejection, you’ll know what a difference the location of the relevant word makes.
You should get to the point quickly, and the perfect doesn’t help with that.
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English Translation
I went home.
I’ve read Germans up north use the simple past more frequently, whereas southern German areas and Austria prefer the present perfect tense. (good post, David)
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That matches my experience. (I grew up in southern Germany.)
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English Translation
I went home.
Your post really helped me more fully understand the nuisances of spoken and written German (simple past and present perfect). I have a better understanding now of how Germans use both.
For me, the present perfect is easier to learn because I only have to memorize the past participle. In the simple past tense, there are different conjugations for each (1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular and plural). Plus, I find the simple past and present tense conjugations can really look quite different. (I’m working hard learning German, I love the language).
I think there is also something to be said about the nuance in meaning between the past perfect and the simple past. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in German both are used to express the same time period, and it’s usage only depends on the preference of the speaker, with the simple being usually used in writing, and the perfect in spoken.
That is not really the case in English, where there are instances where they could be interchangeable, but usually depict two different situations (with the past simple being about things that are over in the past, and the perfect, things that may continue now; ie: “I went twice to Disney world last year”- and since the year is over, that number cannot go up - vs “I have gone twice to Disney world” - and I may go again - adding “last year” here would sound weird, because the action is not finished).
So while in the translation from English to German, you may use any of the two tenses in the resulting sentence, the same may not be the case the other way around.
Interesting! If memory serves me, I think this also applies to Spanish. But yes, in German, both tenses have the exact same meaning - just expressed differently in the two tenses.
Also, in some areas in Germany - the genitive case is being phased out. They are replacing it with von+ the dative.
Please don’t learn to talk like that. And don’t believe that. Whoever told you that can’t be very educated.
Edit: Maybe I was too harsh with that judgement. But there is a difference between an American with German ancestors who teaches on YouTube while still living in the USA, or whatever, making claims about the German language from a distance … and actual German native speakers having had a German native speaker as a grammar teacher in middle school and high school while living in Germany. Believe the German native speakers, not the YouTuber. Other lessons from the YouTuber may still be valid, I’m not discrediting non-Germans teaching German.
In Germany there is the ridiculing saying:
Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod.
Translating to: “The Dative is the death of the Genitive.”
It makes you aware of the problem—many people, including Germans, misuse the Dative—and it itself (intentionally) uses the Dative wrongly to rub your nose in its ugliness.
Equally wrong would be:
Der Dativ ist der Tod vom [von dem] Genitiv.
Although many native Germans speak like that nowadays. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s wrong though and makes you seem stupid. Many people having racist views doesn’t make having racist views acceptable either.
Correctly, it would have to be either of these (both using the Genitive):
- Der Dativ ist der Tod des Genitivs.
- Der Dativ ist des Genitivs Tod.
The latter sounds more archaic than the more contemporary former sentence (see also this comment 
or this comment). Notice the letter s after the word Genitiv and the lack of that s in the two wrong sentences using the Dative.
The two comments I just linked show that the German language does evolve and has evolved over the past 100 years, but the Genitive being phased out and replaced by the Dative is not happening.
When you learn English, you don’t want to learn to speak like some uneducated hillbilly from Alabama. Using the Dative instead of the Genitive would be the German equivalent. It would immediately betray your lack of education.
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Thanks, David! There’s YouTube videos saying that. ‘German with Laura’ is one that comes to mind.
Further searching, I see reliable German sources saying replacing the genitive with the dative makes one sound like a foreigner.
I’m learning and still have a ways to go. Great advice given from your posts. Much appreciated!
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