De handdoeken hangen op het droogrek, en het strijkijzer staat nog uit.

Dutch often prefers a more specific position verb where English would simply use to be.

So instead of saying the towels are on the drying rack, Dutch says they hang: De handdoeken hangen op het droogrek.

That sounds natural in Dutch because towels on a rack are seen as being in a hanging position.

Again, Dutch often uses a position verb instead of plain zijn.

For many objects, especially appliances and things resting in a normal position, Dutch uses staan. Also, with devices, aan/uit staan is very common:

• De lamp staat aan
• De televisie staat uit
• Het strijkijzer staat nog uit

So staat uit is the natural Dutch way to say that the iron is off.

These are three very common Dutch position verbs:

• hangen = to hang, be suspended
• staan = to stand, be upright / be in its normal standing position
• liggen = to lie, be lying down / be placed flat

Examples:

• De jas hangt aan de kapstok = The coat is hanging on the coat rack.
• De fles staat op tafel = The bottle is on the table.
• Het boek ligt op tafel = The book is on the table.

Dutch uses these much more often than English does, so English speakers usually need some time to get used to them.

Here nog means still.

So het strijkijzer staat nog uit means the iron is still off. It suggests that this state continues up to now.

A very common related phrase is nog niet, meaning not yet:

• Het strijkijzer staat nog niet aan = The iron is not on yet.

In a Dutch main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. Here that verb is staat.

The word uit belongs with the idea staat uit = is off / stands off, but it is placed later in the clause:

• Het strijkijzer staat uit
• Het strijkijzer staat nog uit

So staat comes early, while uit stays near the end. This is very common in Dutch with particles such as aan, uit, op, mee, and so on.

Dutch singular nouns take either de or het.

• de handdoek
• het droogrek
• het strijkijzer

But in the plural, nouns normally take de, so:

• de handdoeken

That is why you see de with handdoeken, even if you still have to learn separately whether the singular noun takes de or het.

The singular is handdoek and the plural is made with -en:

• handdoek → handdoeken

This is one of the most common Dutch plural patterns. The word itself is also a compound:

• hand = hand
• doek = cloth

So handdoek is literally something like hand cloth, though of course it simply means towel.

Yes. Dutch forms compounds very freely, and they are usually written as one word.

• droogrek = droog
  • rek
    literally dry rack, meaning drying rack
• strijkijzer = strijk
  • ijzer
    related to strijken = to iron, plus ijzer = iron

This is very normal in Dutch, so long words are often easier to understand once you split them into parts.

Op het droogrek is very natural when something is placed on or over a drying rack.

Dutch often uses op for the general location: the towels are on the rack.
Aan het droogrek would sound more like you are emphasizing that the towels are attached to it.

So in everyday Dutch, op het droogrek is the most straightforward choice here.

Because en joins two main clauses:

• De handdoeken hangen op het droogrek
• het strijkijzer staat nog uit

Each clause keeps normal main-clause word order, with the finite verb in second position.

You would get a different order only if some other element came first, for example:

• Op het droogrek hangen de handdoeken

There, op het droogrek is placed first, so the subject comes after the verb.