The preposition "poza"
When you want to describe a state of being "outside" or "beyond" a physical boundary, you will use the preposition poza.
To indicate a static position or state (answering the question "where?"), poza is followed by a noun in the Instrumental case. For most masculine and neuter nouns, this means adding the -em ending.
- dom (the house) -> poza domem
- miasto (the city) -> poza miastem
Suburbs and territories
When talking about areas outside a city's center, you might refer to a suburb (przedmieście) or a specific area (obszar).
You can also use poza on a larger scale to talk about being outside a country's territory (terytorium). Note that native Polish nouns ending in -um, such as terytorium, do not change their form in the singular, so the Instrumental form looks exactly like the dictionary form.
Abstract limits
The preposition poza is equally common for describing abstract boundaries, such as when something is out of range (zasięg) of a network (sieć). Since zasięg is a masculine inanimate noun, it takes the -em ending in the Instrumental case: poza zasięgiem.
Feminine nouns like control (kontrola), norm (norma), and competition (konkurencja) all end in -a. To use them with poza, you must put them in the Instrumental case by changing the final -a to -ą.
- kontrola -> poza kontrolą (out of control)
- norma -> poza normą (outside the norm)
- konkurencja -> poza konkurencją (beyond competition)