Szczerze mówiąc, wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć.

Yes — it is a very common expression, and it works much like honestly speaking or to be honest in English.

Literally:

• szczerze = honestly / sincerely
• mówiąc = speaking / saying

So the literal sense is speaking honestly, but in normal English you would usually translate it as to be honest.

It is often used as a set phrase at the beginning of a sentence:

• Szczerze mówiąc, nie wiem. = To be honest, I don’t know.
• Szczerze mówiąc, jestem zmęczony. = Honestly, I’m tired.

Because Szczerze mówiąc is an introductory phrase, separate from the main clause.

So in:

• Szczerze mówiąc, wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć.

the main sentence is:

• wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć

and Szczerze mówiąc just adds the speaker’s attitude, like frankly or to be honest in English.

In Polish, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• wolę = I prefer

The ending -ę tells you it is 1st person singular, so ja is not necessary.

You can say ja wolę, but it usually adds emphasis, for example:

• Ja wolę zostać w domu. = I prefer to stay home.
  (perhaps contrasting with someone else)

Without emphasis, wolę alone is more natural.

Because after woleć (to prefer), Polish commonly uses an infinitive, just like English often uses to + verb.

• wolę zostać = I prefer to stay
• wolę odpocząć = I prefer to rest

This structure is very normal:

• Wolę poczekać. = I prefer to wait.
• Wolę iść pieszo. = I prefer to go on foot.

Yes, that is a very important point. Zostać can mean different things depending on context.

Common meanings include:

1. to become

   • Został lekarzem. = He became a doctor.

2. to stay / remain

   • Zostanę w domu. = I’ll stay at home.

In your sentence:

• wolę zostać w domu
  it clearly means I prefer to stay at home.

So this is one of those Polish verbs whose meaning depends heavily on the words around it.

Because after w meaning in/at, when you are talking about location, Polish uses the locative case.

• dictionary form: dom
• locative singular: domu

So:

• w domu = in/at home

This is a very common pattern:

• w szkole = at school
• w pracy = at work
• w pokoju = in the room

w dom would be wrong here, because that would suggest motion into something, and even then dom would still not be the correct form in normal usage.

Domu here is locative singular of dom.

It is used because of w when w means location:

• w domu = at home
• w ogrodzie = in the garden
• w mieście = in the city

Be careful: the form domu can also appear as genitive singular in other contexts, but in this sentence it is definitely locative because of w domu.

Because odpocząć is the perfective infinitive, and it fits the idea of a single, complete act of resting.

• odpocząć = to have a rest / to rest up
• odpoczywać = to be resting / to rest regularly or over a period of time

In this sentence:

• wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć the speaker means something like I’d rather stay home and get some rest.

If you said:

• wolę zostawać w domu i odpoczywać that would sound more like a repeated or habitual preference: I prefer staying at home and resting.

So the perfective forms make this sentence sound like a choice about one situation, not a general lifestyle pattern.

Because the sentence sounds like a preference for one complete course of action in a particular situation:

• stay home
• rest

Polish often uses perfective infinitives after verbs like woleć, musieć, chcieć, etc. when the speaker is thinking of a complete action.

Compare:

• Wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć.
  = I’d rather stay home and rest.
  (one concrete choice)

• Wolę zostawać w domu i odpoczywać.
  = I prefer staying at home and resting.
  (more habitual, repeated, general)

Both are grammatically possible, but they express slightly different viewpoints.

Because the sentence simply links two preferred actions:

• zostać w domu = stay at home
• odpocząć = rest

So:

• wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć means I prefer to stay home and rest.

If you said:

• wolę zostać w domu, żeby odpocząć that would mean I prefer to stay home in order to rest.

That version is also correct, but the nuance is a little different:

• i odpocząć = two actions joined together
• żeby odpocząć = the second action is the purpose of the first

The given word order is very natural:

• Szczerze mówiąc, wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć.

Polish word order is more flexible than English, but not every variation sounds equally natural.

For example:

• Wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć, szczerze mówiąc.
  Also possible, but the phrase szczerze mówiąc sounds like an added afterthought.

• W domu wolę zostać i odpocząć.
  Possible, but now w domu is more strongly emphasized.

So yes, the order can change, but the original version is the most neutral and idiomatic.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Szczerze ≈ SHCHE-zhe
• mówiąc ≈ MOO-vyonts

A few useful details:

• sz sounds like English sh
• cz sounds like English ch
• rz here sounds like zh as in measure
• ó sounds like u in boot
• ą before the final consonant is roughly nasal, often sounding a bit like on/om, depending on context

Polish stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable:

• SZCZE-rze
• MÓ-wiąc

It most naturally suggests a preference in the current situation, especially because of the perfective infinitives zostać and odpocząć.

So it feels like:

• Honestly, I’d rather stay home and rest.

If you wanted to express a more general, habitual preference, Polish would more naturally use imperfective forms:

• Szczerze mówiąc, wolę zostawać w domu i odpoczywać.

That would be closer to:

• To be honest, I prefer staying at home and resting.

So yes, context matters, but the original sentence usually sounds like a choice about a specific occasion.

Yes, but context decides which one sounds best.

• w domu can mean at home
• it can also literally mean in the house

In this sentence:

• wolę zostać w domu i odpocząć the most natural English translation is I prefer to stay at home and rest or I’d rather stay home and rest.

English usually does not say in the house here unless you specifically want to contrast the inside of the house with somewhere else, like the garden or outside.