Want to punch the subjontif

[Piesy]

Moved to a French speaking country and am taking classes.

I tolerate the non-pronunciation of word-endings, and the ridiculousness quantity of verb conjugations but learning about the subjontif today has given me the rage.

It seems so pointless. The phrases seem like they would make sense using present tense so why invent another tense??
If the subjontif was a person I would push them over

I'm with you on that!

Tell me it gets easier, Honey?

I did a French degree 20 yrs ago, and am now doing a refresher course as I'm incredibly rusty. I just learned a few stock phrases of it that I always snuck into exams! Not the right way to do it.

If it's any consolation, I think living in a French speaking country was the best way to learn it. My grammar was always the weakest part of my French degree.

But the present tense isn't necessarily correct in Standard English. 'If the subjontif was a person I would push them over' is not Standard English, it should be 'If the subjontif were a person...'
Latin based languages like French and Spanish use the subjunctive more than English. Unfortunately for foreign language learners, English has become more sloppy over the years.

I too live in a Francophone city (Geneva) and actually have a soft spot for the subjonctif. It sounds so poetic and somehow elegant to me.
It will come with time, don't worry about it

It will click eventually and then it will start to annoy you when people DON'T use it! Disclaimer: I do my subjunctiving in Italian. Can't remember much about it in French!

Lapin you are right. Embracing it's grace will be the best way.

Number Good point. I have just realized how sloppy my English has become.

I fit's any consolation OP, the better you get at French, the better you get a finding phrases to work around what you don't know! Soon, you'll be able to dodge right around the subjunctive!