Learn Hardcore Polish: Na naszym osiedlu dzieci bawią się między blokami. - In our housing estate children play between the apartment blocks.

So na naszym osiedlu is more like “on our housing estate / on our estate” than a vague “in our neighbourhood”. “Neighbourhood” is often a good natural translation, but osiedle suggests blocks of flats and a planned estate.

Why is it na naszym osiedlu and not w naszym osiedlu?

Polish uses na with certain kinds of places where English might use “in” or “at”. For example:

na osiedlu – on a housing estate
na wsi – in the countryside
na stadionie – at the stadium
na dworcu – at the (train/bus) station

So na naszym osiedlu is the natural, idiomatic phrase.
W naszym osiedlu sounds wrong or at least very odd to native speakers.

What case is naszym osiedlu, and why do these endings look like that?

Naszym osiedlu is in the locative singular.

osiedle (Nominative) → osiedlu (Locative)
nasze osiedle (our estate, Nom.) → na naszym osiedlu (on our estate, Loc.)

Details:

osiedle is neuter; locative singular of many neuter nouns ends in -e → -u.
naszym is the form of nasz used for:
- masculine / neuter singular locative (and also dative & instrumental)
  → It agrees with osiedlu in case, number and gender.

The locative is required because of the preposition na (in its “location” meaning).

Why is it dzieci bawią się, not dzieci bawi się?

Dzieci is grammatically plural, so it takes a plural verb:

dziecko – a child (singular)
dzieci – children (plural)

Therefore we say:

Dzieci bawią się. – The children are playing.

Using bawi się (3rd person singular) with dzieci (plural) would be ungrammatical.

Why do we need się in bawią się? What’s the difference between bawić and bawić się?

Bawić się is a reflexive verb meaning “to play / to have fun”.

bawić się – to play (children playing), to amuse oneself
- Dzieci bawią się. – The children are playing.
bawić (kogoś) – to entertain somebody
- Ten klaun bawi dzieci. – This clown entertains the children.

So without się, bawić means “to entertain (someone)”, not “to play”.
That’s why dzieci bawią się is the correct form for “the children are playing”.

What’s the difference between bawić się and grać for “to play”?

Both can translate as “to play”, but they’re used in different situations:

bawić się – to play generally, to have fun (especially children):
- Dzieci bawią się na placu zabaw. – The children are playing on the playground.
- Bawię się samochodzikami. – I’m playing with toy cars.
grać – to play a game, sport, or instrument:
- Grać w piłkę – to play football
- Grać w szachy – to play chess
- Grać na gitarze – to play the guitar

In dzieci bawią się między blokami, children are just playing around, not playing a specific game like chess or football, so bawić się is the natural verb.

What tense or aspect is bawią się? Does it mean “are playing” or “play”?

Bawią się is:

present tense
of an imperfective verb (bawić się)

In Polish, the present tense of an imperfective verb can mean:

English present continuous:
- Dzieci bawią się między blokami. – The children are playing between the blocks.
or English simple present (for habits):
- Dzieci często bawią się między blokami. – The children often play between the blocks.

Context decides which English tense is best; the Polish form is the same.

What case is między blokami, and why is it not something like między bloki or między blokach?

In między blokami, blokami is instrumental plural of blok.

blok (Nom. sg.) – a block (of flats)
bloki (Nom. pl.) – blocks
blokami (Instr. pl.) – with/by/among the blocks

The preposition między (“between, among”) usually takes the instrumental when speaking about location:

między domami – between the houses
między drzewami – between the trees
między blokami – between the blocks

So:

między blokami – between the blocks (location, correct)
między blokach – wrong (locative with między is archaic/poetic)
między bloki – would imply motion “(going) between the blocks” with accusative, for example:
- Dzieci wbiegają między bloki. – The children are running (into the space) between the blocks.

Is there any difference between między and pomiędzy?

They are near-synonyms. In everyday modern Polish:

między is more common, shorter, fully standard.
pomiędzy sounds a bit more formal, sometimes more emphatic, but the meaning is basically the same.

In this sentence you could also say:

Dzieci bawią się pomiędzy blokami.

It would still mean “The children are playing between the blocks.”

Why does blokami end with -ami?

Because it is:

instrumental plural of a masculine inanimate noun blok

Pattern:

blok (Nom. sg.)
bloku (Gen. sg.)
bloki (Nom. pl.)
bloków (Gen. pl.)
blokami (Instr. pl.)

The ending -ami is the usual instrumental plural ending for most masculine and feminine nouns. It corresponds to English “(with) the blocks / among the blocks” in this context.

The English translation says “in our neighbourhood / housing estate”. But na literally means “on”. How should I think about na naszym osiedlu?

You’re right that na often means “on”, but with location words Polish doesn’t always match English prepositions directly.

A good way to think about it:

Memorize expressions like na osiedlu, na stadionie, na poczcie as fixed combinations.
Translate them naturally, not literally:
- na naszym osiedlu → “in our housing estate / in our neighbourhood”
- na stadionie → “at the stadium”
- na wsi → “in the countryside”

So na does not always correspond to English “on”; it depends on the noun.

Why is the word order Na naszym osiedlu dzieci bawią się między blokami? Could we put it differently?

Yes, Polish word order is relatively flexible. The neutral English-like order would be:

Dzieci bawią się na naszym osiedlu między blokami.

But starting with Na naszym osiedlu does two things:

Puts the place in focus: “On our estate, the children play between the blocks.”
Sounds very natural in spoken Polish when you’re setting the scene (where something happens).

Other correct variants, with slightly different emphasis, are:

Na naszym osiedlu między blokami dzieci bawią się.
Między blokami na naszym osiedlu dzieci bawią się.

All are grammatical; the original one is just highlighting the location first.

What gender is osiedle, and how does it decline?

Osiedle is neuter.

Singular (most commonly used forms):

Nominative: osiedle – the estate
Genitive: osiedla – of the estate
Dative: osiedlu – to/for the estate
Accusative: osiedle – (same as nominative)
Instrumental: osiedlem – with/by the estate
Locative: osiedlu – on/in the estate (after prepositions like na, w)

In our sentence you see the locative singular: (na) osiedlu.

Why is there no word for “the” in dzieci bawią się między blokami?

Polish has no articles (“a”, “an”, “the”). Whether English uses “the” or not is understood from context, not from a separate word.

So dzieci can mean:

children
the children
sometimes some children

Similarly, między blokami can mean:

between blocks
between the blocks

The full sentence can be translated naturally as, for example:

“In our housing estate, the children are playing between the blocks.”
“In our housing estate, children play between the blocks.”

Both are possible, depending on context. The Polish sentence itself doesn’t force “the” or “some”.