Learn Hardcore Polish: Na boisku marznę, więc proszę córkę o koc. - On the playing field I am freezing, so I ask my daughter for a blanket.

In Polish, na is used with many open, flat places like na boisku (on/at the pitch), na stadionie (at the stadium), na dworcu (at the station), na poczcie (at the post office).

W is more for enclosed spaces or interiors: w domu (in the house), w sklepie (in the shop), w szkole (in the school building).

So na boisku is the natural collocation: you’re on the playing field, not inside it, so na is used.

What case is boisku in, and why does it look like that?

Boisko is a neuter noun (dictionary form boisko). After na with a static location (answering “where?”), Polish uses the locative case.

Neuter nouns in the locative often end with -u or -e. Here:

nominative (dictionary form): boisko
locative: (na) boisku

So the form boisku is simply boisko in the locative case.

Why is there no ja (“I”) before marznę or proszę?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns like ja, ty, etc., because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

marznę ends in -ę → 1st person singular (“I am freezing”)
proszę also ends in -ę → again 1st person singular (“I ask / I’m asking”).

You can say Ja marznę, więc proszę córkę o koc, but it sounds more emphatic (“I am the one freezing…”). The neutral, everyday version leaves ja out.

What exactly does marznę mean, and which verb is it from?

Marznę is 1st person singular, present tense of marznąć – “to be (feeling) cold / to be freezing / to get cold.”

So:

infinitive: marznąć (to freeze / to feel very cold)
ja: marznę (I’m freezing / I’m getting cold)
ty: marzniesz
on/ona/ono: marznie

It describes the ongoing state or process of being cold at that moment, not a completed result.

Is marznę the same as zmarzłem / zmarzłam?

No, they are related but different in aspect and meaning:

marznąć – marznę: imperfective, ongoing process – “I am (getting) cold / I’m freezing (now).”
zmarznąć – zmarzłem / zmarzłam: perfective, completed result – “I got (really) cold / I have frozen.”

In your sentence, the speaker is currently cold on the pitch, so the ongoing form marznę fits best.

What does więc do here, and how is it different from bo or dlatego?

Więc means “so / therefore” and introduces a consequence:

Marznę, więc proszę córkę o koc. → I’m freezing, so I ask my daughter for a blanket.

Compare:

bo = “because” (gives a reason):
- Proszę córkę o koc, bo marznę. – I ask my daughter for a blanket because I’m freezing.
dlatego = “for that reason / that’s why,” often used with bo in another clause:
- Marznę, dlatego proszę córkę o koc. – I’m freezing, that’s why I ask my daughter for a blanket.

Więc is a straightforward connector for “so / therefore.”

Why is there a comma before więc?

Polish normally separates two independent clauses joined by więc with a comma.

Here you have two full clauses, each with its own verb:

Marznę (I’m freezing)
(ja) proszę córkę o koc (I ask my daughter for a blanket)

Because they are independent and joined by więc, you write:
Marznę, więc proszę córkę o koc.

Proszę can mean “please,” “you’re welcome,” and “I ask”. Which meaning is it here?

Here, proszę is the 1st person singular verb: “I ask / I’m asking.”

It’s part of the pattern prosić kogoś o coś – “to ask someone for something.”

Other uses of proszę (as a standalone word) are:

as “please” (polite request),
as “you’re welcome / here you are / go ahead” depending on context.

But in proszę córkę o koc, it is clearly a normal verb form: “I ask my daughter for a blanket.”

Why is it córkę and not córka?

Córka is the nominative (dictionary form) for “daughter.” In this sentence, córkę is a direct object of the verb proszę, and Polish uses the accusative case for direct objects.

Prosić follows the pattern: prosić kogo? o co?

kogo? (whom?) → córkę (accusative of córka)
o co? (for what?) → koc (accusative of koc)

So córkę is just “daughter” in the accusative case.

What case is koc in, and why doesn’t it change its form?

Koc is a masculine inanimate noun (a blanket). Its nominative and accusative forms are the same: koc.

Masculine inanimate nouns often have:

nominative: koc
accusative: koc (no change)

So in proszę córkę o koc, koc is actually accusative, even though it looks like the nominative.

How does prosić kogoś o coś work exactly?

The verb prosić (“to ask / to request”) regularly takes two objects:

kogo? – “whom?” → accusative
o co? – “for what?” → accusative after o

So in your sentence:

proszę kogo? → córkę (my daughter – accusative)
proszę o co? → o koc (for a blanket – accusative)

You can reuse this pattern with other nouns:

Proszę lekarza o pomoc. – I’m asking the doctor for help.
Proszę kolegę o radę. – I’m asking my friend (male) for advice.

Can I change the word order in proszę córkę o koc?

Word order in Polish is flexible, but not every option sounds natural.

Proszę córkę o koc. – neutral, natural.
Córkę proszę o koc. – slightly emphasizing córkę (“It’s my daughter that I’m asking for a blanket”).
Proszę o koc córkę. – grammatical, but sounds odd or marked; speakers would rarely say it this way.

For everyday speech, proszę córkę o koc is the standard order.

How do you pronounce marznę and what’s that little ę at the end?

Approximate pronunciation: [MARZ-ne], where rz sounds like the s in “vision.”

The letter ę is a nasal vowel (similar to “en” in French “bien” for many speakers). At the end of a word or before some consonants, it often sounds close to “e” with a slight nasal quality; many people in casual speech pronounce marznę very close to “marzne”.

Grammatically, the -ę ending marks 1st person singular present (I): marznę, proszę, robię, etc.

If na boisku literally looks like “on the pitch,” why is the English translation usually “on the pitch / at the pitch / on the field”?

Polish na covers both “on” and “at” depending on the context. For a sports boisko, the natural English equivalents are:

on the pitch / on the field (if you imagine standing on the playing surface), or
at the pitch / at the field (more general location).

Polish doesn’t need to choose between on and at here; na boisku is the standard prepositional phrase for being at that kind of place.