Word
Чтобы не было отвлечений, я выключаю уведомления и стараюсь не отвлекаться на чат.
Meaning
So that there are no distractions, I turn off notifications and try not to get distracted by the chat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Чтобы не было отвлечений, я выключаю уведомления и стараюсь не отвлекаться на чат.
я
I
быть
to be
на
by
и
and
Questions & Answers about Чтобы не было отвлечений, я выключаю уведомления и стараюсь не отвлекаться на чат.
What does Чтобы mean here, and how does this construction work?
Чтобы in this sentence means so that / in order that / in order to.
Structure:
- Чтобы + past tense verb often expresses a goal, purpose, or desired result.
- Чтобы не было отвлечений literally: so that there would not be distractions / so that there would be no distractions.
Even though было is formally past tense, in this construction it’s not really about past time; it’s about a desired or prevented situation. So the whole thing is best understood as:
- Чтобы не было отвлечений = (I do this) so that there are no distractions / to avoid distractions.
Why is it не было, which looks like past tense, if we’re talking about a present/future situation?