Why does the 'ne' (ने) postposition keep ruining my past tense sentences?

I’ve been studying Hindi for a year, but I still freeze up whenever I have to use the ergative case. I feel like I'm constantly guessing whether to conjugate the verb based on the subject or the object, and I end up sounding like a broken robot during family dinners. How do you internalize the 'ne' rule so that it doesn't feel like a conscious calculation every time I speak?