GLOSSARY
Präteritum — the simple past
German's simple past: in speech it survives only for sein, haben and modals (war, hatte, konnte); in writing, it is the narrative past.
VON GERMANIUM
Editorial desk — reviewed against Goethe A1–A2 frameworks
The Präteritum is the simple past: ich sagte, er ging. In writing (novels, news) it is the standard narrative past; in speech it survives only in a small closed set — *war, hatte, konnte, wollte, musste, durfte, sollte (ich war müde*, not ~~ich bin gewesen müde~~).
Practical scope: at A2 you produce only that modal set and recognize the rest. Why spoken German works this way — and why the A2 grammar map schedules it mid-level.