Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.
So in this sentence, aripa is the definite form. This is very common in Romanian:
For many feminine nouns ending in -ă, the definite singular form changes to -a.
Este is the 3rd person singular of a fi, which means to be. So it means is.
Yes, in everyday Romanian, e is a very common shorter form:
Both are correct. Este sounds a little fuller or more careful; e is very common in speech.
Lângă is a preposition meaning near, next to, or beside.
It is followed directly by a noun or pronoun:
It is one of the most common ways to express physical closeness in Romanian.
A rough pronunciation is:
ah-REE-pa YES-teh LUHN-guh far
More closely:
A more technical pronunciation would be roughly:
/aˈri.pa ˈjes.te ˈlɨn.ɡə far/
Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but the given order is the most neutral and natural here:
You can change the order for emphasis, for example:
That sounds more marked, as if you are emphasizing the location. For a basic statement, the original version is the best one to learn first.