How do I use the simple past tense in German and when should I use it?

The two main past tenses in German are the simple past and the present perfect. The simple past uses just one word, for example 'ich ging', while the present perfect uses two words, for example 'ich bin gegangen'. We use the simple past when writing and we use the present perfect when talking, texting or messaging people on facebook. So how do we form the simple past tenses? For the simple past, we need to know if the verb we are using is regular or irregular. For regular verbs, we take the stem by removing the 'en' from the end of the verb, for example 'machen' becomes 'mach'. We then add on a 't' and the simple past endings, which are as follows: ich 'e', du 'est' er/sie 'e', wir 'en', ihr 'et', sie/Sie 'en'. So 'ich mache' becomes 'ich machte'. Many common verbs in German are irergular, like 'gehen' and 'sein'. We have to learn which verbs are irregular because there is no way to tell if verbs are irregular just by looking at them. For irregular verbs, we use the irregular past forms of the verbs, which we also need to learn. We then add on the same endings as for regular verbs, except for the 'ich' and 'er' forms, which have no endings. So 'ich gehe' becomes 'ich ging', while ich laufe becomes 'ich lief'.