El este está soleado hoy.

Because este is being used as a noun here, meaning the east.

In Spanish, compass directions often take the definite article when they refer to a region or area:

• el norte = the north
• el sur = the south
• el este = the east
• el oeste = the west

So El este está soleado hoy means that the eastern area is sunny today.

No. In this sentence, este means east, not this.

Spanish este can be:

• a demonstrative: este libro = this book
• a noun or direction word: el este = the east

You can tell from the article el that it is functioning as a noun here. El este cannot mean the this; it clearly means the east.

It uses está because soleado describes a condition/state, like the weather today, not a permanent identity.

Spanish usually uses estar for weather conditions in a place at a given time:

• Está soleado = It is sunny
• Está nublado = It is cloudy
• Está lloviendo = It is raining

Using es soleado would usually suggest something more like an inherent characteristic, which is not the normal way to talk about today’s weather.

Soleado means sunny or sun-filled.

It comes from sol meaning sun. In weather sentences, estar soleado means that a place has sunny weather.

Examples:

• Hoy está soleado. = It’s sunny today.
• La costa está soleada. = The coast is sunny.

Because it agrees with el este, which is a masculine noun.

In Spanish, adjectives usually match the noun in gender and number:

• el este soleado
• la costa soleada
• los días soleados
• las playas soleadas

So here, soleado is masculine singular because el este is masculine singular.

Putting hoy at the end is very natural in Spanish. It works like today in English: it can move around depending on emphasis.

All of these are possible:

• El este está soleado hoy.
• Hoy el este está soleado.
• El este hoy está soleado. (less common, more marked)

The version with hoy at the end sounds neutral and natural.

Yes, you could, and it can sound more natural in some contexts.

Compare:

• El este está soleado hoy. = The east is sunny today.
• En el este está soleado hoy. = In the east, it is sunny today.

The first treats the east as the subject.
The second uses a location phrase, which is often very common in weather reports.

You might also hear:

• En el este, está soleado hoy.
• Hoy está soleado en el este.

The accent mark shows both pronunciation and meaning.

• está = is / is located / form of estar
• esta = this (feminine), as in esta casa

So the accent is important because it distinguishes two different words.

Usually, no. Compass directions are normally written in lowercase in Spanish:

• el norte
• el sur
• el este
• el oeste

So El este está soleado hoy is the normal spelling.

You might see capitalization only in special cases, such as part of a proper name, title, map label, or heading.

It is talking about a region/area, not the abstract direction itself.

In weather language, el este means something like the eastern part of a country, city, or larger area. So the sentence means that the eastern region has sunny weather today.

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

el ES-te es-TA so-le-A-do oi

A few notes:

• e is usually like eh
• hoy sounds roughly like oi
• the stress falls on -tá in está
• soleado has four syllables: so-le-a-do

In much of Latin America, the s sounds like a clear English s.