Exactly! French didn’t stop frustrating me until I finally quit trying to learn all the rules. Then I experienced it as the gorgeous, living, breathing expression of culture that it is.

Learning basic grammar is important for jump starting the learning process, I think. For example, conjugation tables really can help with starting to internalize verb use.

But it’s so much better in the long run to know if something “sounds” right than to be able to cite a rule for why it’s right.