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  What it means

  Literally: “having told the truth” or “truth having been said.” This is a common adverbial phrase used to signal candor before or after a remark — functioning like the English “to tell the truth,” “honestly speaking,” or “to be frank.” It introduces a statement the speaker admits may be unexpected, uncomfortable, or contrary to what they have implied before. The phrase is often used to soften a potentially blunt admission or to add emphasis to a confession.

  Vocabulary

  • prawdę — truth (accusative of 'prawda')
  • powiedziawszy — having said (perfective past adverbial participle of 'powiedzieć')

  Grammar note

  This phrase uses the perfective past adverbial participle 'powiedziawszy' (from 'powiedzieć,' to say/tell). Past adverbial participles are formed by adding '-wszy' to the perfective stem and indicate an action completed before the main verb. 'Prawdę' is the accusative direct object of 'powiedzieć.' The whole phrase functions as a sentence adverbial and can appear at the start, middle, or end of a sentence without changing its meaning.

  Cultural context

  This expression is very common in both spoken and written Polish and adds a tone of candor or reluctant honesty. It is stylistically neutral — equally at home in casual speech and formal writing. A closely related synonym is 'prawdę mówiąc' (using the present participle instead), which is slightly more common in everyday spoken Polish and carries the same meaning.

  Intermediate

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