A toalha está molhada, mas ela vai secar na varanda.

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

• toalha = towel
• a toalha = the towel

In Portuguese, articles are used more often than in English, so a toalha sounds natural here.

Portuguese usually uses estar for a temporary condition or state, and ser for something more permanent or defining.

So:

• está molhada = is wet right now
• é molhada would sound like being wet is a characteristic of the towel, which is not the idea here

Because the towel is only wet for the moment, está is the correct choice.

Because molhada is agreeing with toalha, which is a feminine singular noun.

In Portuguese, adjectives often match the noun in gender and number:

• o pano molhado = the wet cloth
• a toalha molhada = the wet towel
• as toalhas molhadas = the wet towels

So molhada is feminine singular to match a toalha.

In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender, and pronouns match that gender.

Since toalha is feminine, you refer back to it with ela:

• A toalha ... ela ...

Even though a towel is not a person, Portuguese still uses ele/ela for things when referring back to them.

Yes, absolutely. That is very natural in Portuguese.

Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the meaning is clear from the verb or context. So both are possible:

• A toalha está molhada, mas ela vai secar na varanda.
• A toalha está molhada, mas vai secar na varanda.

Including ela adds a little emphasis or clarity, but it is not required.

It is the very common ir + infinitive future construction.

• vai = present tense of ir for ela/você
• secar = infinitive, to dry

So:

• ela vai secar = it is going to dry / it will dry

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, this structure is extremely common for talking about the future.

Here it means to dry in the sense of become dry.

So:

• A toalha vai secar = The towel will dry

But secar can also be used transitively:

• Vou secar a toalha. = I’m going to dry the towel.

So the verb can mean either dry or dry something, depending on context.

Because Portuguese normally contracts em + a into na.

• em + a = na
• em + o = no
• em + as = nas
• em + os = nos

So:

• na varanda = on/in the balcony/veranda

This contraction is standard and expected.

Varanda often means a balcony, veranda, or sometimes a covered outdoor area attached to a home.

The exact translation depends on the place:

• in an apartment, it often means balcony
• in a house, it may be more like a veranda or porch

So in this sentence, na varanda suggests the towel will dry in an outdoor or semi-outdoor area.

Mas means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• A toalha está molhada = the towel is wet
• mas ela vai secar na varanda = but it will dry on the balcony/veranda

So the contrast is: it is wet now, but that situation will change.

A common Brazilian pronunciation is roughly to-A-lya.

The important part is lh, which sounds like the lli in million for many English speakers, though not exactly the same.

So:

• toalha ≈ to-A-lya

Also, the stress is usually on the second syllable: to-AL-ha.

Yes, the word order is natural.

Standard order here is:

• A toalha = subject
• está molhada = current state
• mas = contrast
• ela vai secar = future action/state
• na varanda = place

You could make small changes for style or emphasis, but this version sounds normal and clear in Brazilian Portuguese.