Miasto leży na zachodzie.

In Polish, leżeć is often used for the location of places, especially towns, cities, countries, lakes, and other geographical objects.

So:

• Miasto jest na zachodzie would sound less natural in this context.
• Miasto leży na zachodzie is the normal way to say that a city is situated in the west.

It works a lot like English lies in formal geography-style language:

• The city lies in the west.

Leży is the 3rd person singular form of the verb leżeć (to lie, to be situated).

Because miasto is singular and means city, the verb must also be singular:

• miasto leży = the city lies / is situated

Some related forms:

• ja leżę = I am lying
• ty leżysz = you are lying
• on/ona/ono leży = he/she/it is lying

Here, the verb is not about physically lying down, but about location.

Because after na the case changes depending on the meaning.

Here, na zachodzie uses the locative case, because it answers the question where?

• na zachodzie = in/on the west, meaning in the western part

By contrast, na zachód uses the accusative case and usually expresses movement toward something:

• jedziemy na zachód = we are going west

So:

• where? → na zachodzie
• to where? / toward where? → na zachód

Because zachód is in the locative case after na when talking about location.

The dictionary form is:

• zachód = west

But after na in a location phrase, it becomes:

• na zachodzie = in the west

This is a normal case change in Polish. Many nouns change their ending in the locative.

Polish often uses na with names of regions, directions, and broad areas:

• na zachodzie = in the west
• na północy = in the north
• na południu = in the south
• na wschodzie = in the east

Using w here would not be the normal choice for this meaning.

So when talking about being in the western part of a country, area, or map, Polish usually says na zachodzie.

Not exactly. Zachód can mean a few related things depending on context:

• the west as a direction or region
• the West in a cultural/political sense
• sunset in the phrase zachód słońca

In this sentence, it clearly means the west as a geographical area.

Polish does not use articles like a or the.

So:

• miasto can mean a city or the city
• the exact meaning depends on context

In this sentence, English usually says the city, but Polish simply says miasto.

Yes, Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical relationships.

The neutral order here is:

• Miasto leży na zachodzie.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Na zachodzie leży miasto.
• Na zachodzie miasto leży.

These are grammatical, but they sound marked or stylistically different. For an ordinary statement, Miasto leży na zachodzie is the most natural.

A rough English-style guide is:

• MYA-sto LEH-zhih na za-HO-jyeh

A few useful details:

• mi in miasto sounds like mya
• ż sounds like the s in measure
• ch is a throaty sound, like German Bach or Scottish loch
• dzie sounds roughly like jyeh

A more Polish-like pronunciation in simple approximation:

• MYA-sto LEH-zhy na za-HO-djye

It is mostly neutral, though slightly more descriptive than a simple jest sentence.

You will often see leży in:

• geography
• textbooks
• travel writing
• factual descriptions

So it is very common and natural for describing where a place is located.

Yes. Miasto znajduje się na zachodzie is also correct and natural.

The difference is mainly style:

• leży = lies, is situated
• znajduje się = is located

Both are common.
Leży is often a bit shorter and very typical in geographical descriptions.
Znajduje się can sound slightly more formal or neutral-descriptive.