Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko, at nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon.

Nasa means is in / is at / is located in depending on context.

It is very common in Filipino for talking about location:

• Nasa banyo = is in the bathroom
• Nasa tabi ng salamin = is beside the mirror

You can think of nasa as a shortened form historically related to na sa, but for learners it is easiest to treat it as a very common location word meaning is at/in/on somewhere.

Both are correct.

Filipino often allows either:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko.
• Ang tuwalya ko ay nasa banyo.

The first version is very natural and common in everyday speech. It starts with the location, then gives the thing being located.

So:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko = literally something like In the bathroom is my towel
• Ang tuwalya ko ay nasa banyo = My towel is in the bathroom

English usually prefers starting with the subject, but Filipino is more flexible.

Ang marks the noun phrase that is being focused on or identified as the topic of the clause.

In this sentence:

• ang tuwalya ko = my towel
• ang sabon = the soap

After a location phrase like nasa banyo, the noun marked by ang is the thing whose location is being stated.

So:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko = My towel is in the bathroom
• Nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon = The soap is beside the mirror

For beginners, it is often enough to think of ang as the marker for the main noun in the sentence.

In Filipino, possessive pronouns like ko often come after the noun.

So:

• tuwalya ko = my towel
• bahay ko = my house
• kaibigan ko = my friend

This is different from English, where my comes before the noun.

Here:

• ko = my
• tuwalya ko = my towel

Tabi means side or nearby side, and in location expressions it often means beside / next to.

• tabi ng salamin = beside the mirror / next to the mirror

The structure is:

• tabi = side / beside
• ng salamin = of the mirror

So literally it is something like at the side of the mirror, but in natural English it becomes beside the mirror.

Because salamin is not the main topic of that part of the sentence. It is part of a prepositional/location phrase.

In nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon:

• ang sabon is the main noun being located
• ng salamin tells what the soap is beside

So:

• ang sabon = the soap
• ng salamin = of the mirror / beside the mirror

A good way to see it is:

• tabi ng salamin = the side of the mirror / beside the mirror

Here, ng links tabi and salamin.

At means and.

It joins the two clauses:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko
• nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon

So the whole sentence simply links two location statements:

• my towel is in the bathroom
• and the soap is beside the mirror

Not in the same way.

• sa banyo by itself usually just means in/at the bathroom
• nasa banyo means is in/at the bathroom

So in a full statement of location, nasa is the natural choice:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko. = correct

If you say only Sa banyo ang tuwalya ko, it can sometimes appear in certain contexts, but for learners, nasa is the safer and more standard pattern when saying where something is.

Not always. Salamin can mean:

• mirror
• glass
• sometimes eyeglasses, depending on context

In this sentence, because of tabi ng salamin in a bathroom context, mirror is the natural meaning.

This is a common feature of Filipino vocabulary: one word can cover several related meanings, and context tells you which one is intended.

The given sentence is already natural. In everyday speech, a speaker might say it with normal pauses like this:

Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko, at nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon.

In casual speech, some speakers might also pause more strongly or split it into two shorter sentences:

• Nasa banyo ang tuwalya ko. Nasa tabi ng salamin ang sabon.

That can sound very natural too.

Yes, to some extent.

Possible alternatives include:

• Ang tuwalya ko ay nasa banyo, at ang sabon ay nasa tabi ng salamin.
• Ang sabon ay nasa tabi ng salamin, at ang tuwalya ko ay nasa banyo.

These have basically the same meaning, but the emphasis or flow may change.

The original sentence is very natural because it uses a common Filipino pattern:

• location first
• thing being located second

In Filipino, ng is usually pronounced like the ng sound in English sing.

So:

• ng salamin sounds roughly like nang salamin, not like the English word gee

A rough pronunciation guide for the whole phrase:

• tabi ng salamin ≈ tah-BEE nang sah-LAH-min

This is only an approximation, but it helps beginners avoid pronouncing ng as separate n + g sounds.