The prefix za-

What is the difference between pytać (to ask) and zapytać?

The same as between pieprzyć and zapieprzyć!

you'll probably need to read up about "aspect in verb pairs" to fully understand. Pytać is the imperfective form of the verb and zapytać is the perfective form.

More on perfective and imperfective from Polish forums: https://polishforums.com/language/perfective-imperfective-grammar-29677/

Thanks very much for the reading material. I'll go and do that. :)

Mufasa
Your welcome

The "za-" prefix attached to the verb often indicates a more specific purpose to the action, e.g. "prosić" = to ask, request and "zaprosić" = to ask for a reason, i.e. to invite.....

"pisać" = to write vs. "zapisać" = to inscribe, to title etc..