Learn Hardcore Polish: Nasza szkoła językowa jest blisko parku.

masculine singular: nasz (e.g. nasz dom – our house)
feminine singular: nasza (e.g. nasza szkoła)
neuter singular: nasze (e.g. nasze dziecko – our child)
plural (non-masculine-personal): nasze (e.g. nasze szkoły – our schools)

So nasza szkoła is the only correct choice here.

What does językowa mean exactly, and why is it used instead of języka or języków?

językowa is an adjective derived from język (language). It means language-related or of language, so szkoła językowa is literally a language school.

językowa – adjective, feminine singular nominative, matching szkoła
języka / języków – nouns in the genitive (of a language / of languages)

If you used szkoła języka, it would sound like “school of (a) language”, which is not the standard name of this type of institution. The fixed, natural collocation in Polish is szkoła językowa for language school.

Why is the verb jest needed? Can it be left out, like “Our language school near the park”?

In standard Polish, you normally must use the verb być (to be) in the present tense in sentences like this:

Nasza szkoła językowa jest blisko parku. – Our language school is near the park.

Omitting jest here sounds incomplete or like a slogan/headline, not like a normal full sentence.

In informal speech, Polish sometimes drops jest in very simple location sentences (e.g. On w domu – “He (is) at home”), but:

Nasza szkoła językowa blisko parku sounds unfinished in everyday speech.
The neutral, correct version is with jest.

Why is it parku and not park after blisko?

The preposition blisko (near, close to) requires the genitive case.

park – nominative (dictionary form)
parku – genitive (of the park)

So after blisko you must say:

blisko parku – near (the) park
blisko domu – near (the) house
blisko szkoły – near (the) school

Using blisko park would be incorrect because it breaks the preposition + required case rule.

What is the difference between blisko, obok, koło, przy, and niedaleko?

All can translate as “near” in some contexts, but they have different nuances and cases:

blisko + genitive – close to, fairly near
- Nasza szkoła jest blisko parku. – Our school is near the park.
obok + genitive – next to / beside, usually very close, side by side
- Szkoła jest obok parku. – The school is next to the park.
koło + genitive – near / by, common in speech, similar to blisko
- Szkoła jest koło parku. – The school is near the park.
przy + locative – by / at, right by something, at its edge
- Szkoła jest przy parku. – The school is right by the park (at the park).
niedaleko + genitive – not far (from)
- Szkoła jest niedaleko parku. – The school is not far from the park.

In your sentence, blisko is a neutral “near/close to” with no extra nuance.

Can I change the word order, for example: Blisko parku jest nasza szkoła językowa?

Yes. Polish word order is relatively flexible, and this sentence is still correct:

Blisko parku jest nasza szkoła językowa.

Differences:

Nasza szkoła językowa jest blisko parku.
– Neutral, subject-first; simply states where the school is.
Blisko parku jest nasza szkoła językowa.
– Puts a bit more emphasis on the location blisko parku (“Near the park is our language school”).

What you wouldn’t normally say in this meaning is:

Nasza językowa szkoła jest blisko parku.
This sounds unnatural; the fixed collocation is szkoła językowa, not językowa szkoła in everyday usage.

Which grammatical cases appear in this sentence, and why?

The sentence:

Nasza szkoła językowa jest blisko parku.

contains two cases:

Nominative (mianownik) – subject of the sentence
- Nasza szkoła językowa
- nasza (our), szkoła (school), językowa (language) all agree: feminine, singular, nominative.
Genitive (dopełniacz) – required by the preposition blisko
- parku – genitive singular of park
- It is genitive because of the preposition, not because of possession.

There is no other case used here.

How would the sentence change if I say “Our language schools are near the park”?

You need to make the subject plural and change the verb to match:

Nasze szkoły językowe są blisko parku.
– Our language schools are near the park.

Changes:

nasza → nasze (feminine plural nominative)
szkoła → szkoły (plural of szkoła)
językowa → językowe (adjective in feminine plural)
jest → są (3rd person plural of być)
parku stays the same (still singular genitive: near the park).

Why is there no word for “the” in this Polish sentence?

Polish does not use articles (no equivalents of a/an or the), so you simply don’t put any article-like word in the sentence:

Nasza szkoła językowa can mean:
- our language school
- our/the language school (depending on context)

Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, and sometimes from demonstratives like ta / ten / to:

Ta szkoła językowa – this language school
But you normally do not add anything to mean “the”.

How do you pronounce sz, ł, and the whole sentence?

Key sounds:

sz – like English sh in “shop”, but a bit harder and more retroflex.
ł – like English w in “water”.
j – like English y in “yes”.

One simple approximation of the whole sentence:

Nasza szkoła językowa jest blisko parku.
→ NAH-sha SHKO-wah yenz-ih-KOH-vah yest BLEES-koh PAHR-koo

More precise (IPA, broad):

Nasza – [ˈna.ʂa]
szkoła – [ˈʂkɔ.wa]
językowa – [jɛ̃.zɨˈkɔ.va]
jest – [jɛst]
blisko – [ˈblʲis.kɔ]
parku – [ˈpar.ku]

Could I say Nasza szkoła językowa znajduje się blisko parku instead of jest blisko parku? Is there a difference?

Yes, that is correct:

Nasza szkoła językowa znajduje się blisko parku.
– Our language school is located near the park.

Differences:

jest blisko parku – simple, neutral is near the park.
znajduje się blisko parku – slightly more formal or descriptive, literally “is located/found near the park”.

Both are common and natural; in everyday speech jest is more frequent, while znajduje się often appears in brochures, official descriptions, websites, etc.