Learn Polish: Wysłałem oryginał, by nie było żadnych wątpliwości. - I sent the original so that there would be no doubts.

Wysłałem oryginał, by nie było żadnych wątpliwości.

I sent the original so that there would be no doubts.

Breakdown of Wysłałem oryginał, by nie było żadnych wątpliwości.

no / none / any (not a single one)

Questions & Answers about Wysłałem oryginał, by nie było żadnych wątpliwości.

Why use by here instead of the more common żeby?

by is a more formal, written-register equivalent of żeby. You will often see by or aby in professional correspondence, academic writing, and official documents to express purpose (meaning "in order to" or "so that"). In everyday conversation, you would naturally just say żeby nie było.

Could I use aby in this sentence instead of by?

Yes, aby nie było is perfectly correct and carries the exact same formal tone. by and aby are interchangeable purpose conjunctions. by is just slightly shorter and often flows better immediately after a comma.

Why is the noun wątpliwości in the genitive case here?

It is due to the negative structure. When you state that something "is not" or "was not" there (nie było), Polish requires the genitive case for the thing that is absent. Here, the feminine noun wątpliwość (doubt) becomes wątpliwości in the genitive plural, matching the negative pronoun żadnych (any/none).

If wątpliwości is plural, why is the verb było in the neuter singular form?