A folha de pagamento está pronta.

Because folha is a feminine noun in Portuguese. That means it takes feminine words with it, such as the article a.

• a folha
• a folha de pagamento

This is grammatical gender, so it does not necessarily match any real-world gender. It is simply part of the noun and must be learned with it.

Literally, folha de pagamento is something like payment sheet or sheet of payment. In real usage, though, it is a standard expression in Brazilian Portuguese for payroll or payroll sheet.

So even if the literal pieces are easy to see, the whole phrase should be learned as one business/accounting expression.

In Portuguese, de often links two nouns, similar to of in English.

So:

• folha = sheet
• pagamento = payment
• folha de pagamento = sheet of payment / payroll sheet

English often prefers noun + noun combinations, like payroll sheet, while Portuguese very often uses noun + de + noun.

Portuguese usually uses estar for a state, condition, or result that is seen as temporary or changeable.

Being ready is normally treated that way, so:

• está pronta = is ready

Using ser here would sound unnatural in normal Portuguese, because ready is not being treated as a permanent characteristic.

A useful comparison:

• A sala está limpa = The room is clean right now
• A sala é limpa = The room is a clean room / is generally clean by nature or habit

So A folha de pagamento está pronta means the payroll is now in a completed/ready state.

Está is the third-person singular present form of the verb estar.

Here it matches the subject a folha de pagamento, which is singular.

So:

• eu estou
• você/ele/ela está
• nós estamos
• eles/elas estão

Since a folha de pagamento is a singular thing, está is the correct form.

The accent in está is part of the correct spelling. It shows the stressed syllable:

• es-TÁ

It also helps distinguish it from esta, which is a demonstrative word meaning this in the feminine form.

So:

• está = is
• esta = this

Because pronta is an adjective, and adjectives in Portuguese must agree with the noun they describe.

The noun being described is folha, which is:

• singular
• feminine

So the adjective must also be:

• singular
• feminine

That gives us pronta.

Compare:

• A folha está pronta
• O relatório está pronto

Because the main noun in the expression is folha, not pagamento.

In folha de pagamento, de pagamento is just a complement telling you what kind of folha it is. The head noun — the noun that controls agreement — is folha.

So the adjective agrees with folha:

• A folha de pagamento está pronta

Not with pagamento.

This is very common in Portuguese:

• A mesa de madeira está pronta
• A conta do banco está certa

In both cases, the adjective agrees with the first noun, not the noun after de.

In a normal sentence like this, yes, a is the natural choice because you are talking about a specific payroll document or payroll process.

• A folha de pagamento está pronta.

Without the article, the sentence would sound incomplete or unnatural in most everyday contexts.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does, so learners should not expect article usage to match English exactly.

Yes. Depending on context, pronto/pronta can suggest:

• ready
• finished
• completed
• all set

So in a work or office context, A folha de pagamento está pronta can imply that the payroll has been completed and is ready for the next step.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• folha ≈ FO-lya

The important part is lh, which is a special Portuguese sound. In Brazilian Portuguese, it sounds somewhat like the lli in million for many English speakers.

So not:

• fol-ha
• fo-luh

but closer to:

• FO-lya

A rough pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

• a FO-lya dji paga-MEN-tu es-TA PRON-ta

This is only an approximation, but it can help at the start.

Yes, and they are related but not always identical.

• folha de pagamento = payroll / payroll sheet / the company’s payroll record or payroll run
• contracheque or holerite = pay stub / payslip, the document an employee receives

So if someone says A folha de pagamento está pronta, they usually mean the payroll itself has been completed, not necessarily just one employee’s pay slip.