As a German speaker "was" is especially awful sounding because we have the exactly analogous "wäre" (conditional, instead of "war" which means "was") which also

As a German speaker "was" is especially awful sounding because we have the exactly analogous "wäre" (conditional, instead of "war" which means "was") which also sounds very similar. I've had people try to "correct" my use of subjunctive... which truly saps my will to live.