Breakdown of Delikatnie mówiąc, to był okropny film.
to
this
być
to be
film
film
okropny
terrible
delikatnie mówiąc
to put it mildly
Questions & Answers about Delikatnie mówiąc, to był okropny film.
Why do we use mówiąc here instead of a conjugated verb like mówię?
The word mówiąc is a present adverbial participle (an invariable word ending in -ąc). It translates literally to "speaking." In Polish, you pair these with adverbs to frame your attitude toward what you are saying, much like the English "-ing" forms in "frankly speaking" or "strictly speaking." Because it acts as a fixed introductory phrase, it never changes its ending to match the speaker.
What other adverbs are commonly paired with mówiąc to frame a sentence?
This is a very productive pattern for sharing opinions. You will frequently hear szczerze mówiąc (frankly speaking / to be honest), krótko mówiąc (in short / in a word), and ogólnie mówiąc (generally speaking). They all act as independent clauses that set the tone for the rest of your statement.
Could I use the perfective form and say delikatnie powiedziawszy instead?
Yes, but it sounds much more formal and slightly bookish. Powiedziawszy is a perfective participle meaning "having said." While phrases like szczerze powiedziawszy certainly exist and are understood, everyday spoken Polish strongly prefers the imperfective mówiąc for these attitude-framing expressions.
Why does the sentence use to był instead of to było, given that the pronoun to is neuter?
This is a great refresher on an easily forgotten rule. When you use to to mean "this is" or "it is" followed by a noun, the past tense of the verb być must agree with the noun that comes after it, not with the pronoun to. Because film is a masculine noun, the verb must be the masculine był rather than the neuter było.
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