Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estas sekura.

Deklaris means declared.

The ending -is is the Esperanto past-tense verb ending. All finite verbs use a fixed ending:

• -as = present
• -is = past
• -os = future
• -us = conditional
• -u = command / wish

So:

• deklaras = declares / is declaring
• deklaris = declared
• deklaros = will declare

The base word here is deklari = to declare.

Ke means that and introduces a subordinate clause.

So:

• Ŝi deklaris = She declared
• ke la biciklo estas sekura = that the bicycle is safe

This works much like English that in a sentence such as She declared that the bicycle is safe.

In Esperanto, ke is very commonly used to connect this kind of reported statement.

Because Esperanto normally chooses the tense inside the subordinate clause based on the meaning of that clause itself, not just by copying the tense of the main verb.

So:

• Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estas sekura.
  = She declared that the bicycle is safe.

This suggests that the reported content is presented as currently true or true in general.

If you said:

• Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estis sekura.

that would mean She declared that the bicycle was safe, which places the safety in the past.

English often shifts tense after a past reporting verb, but Esperanto is usually more direct and logical about the actual time being described.

Because sekura is an adjective, and Esperanto adjectives end in -a.

Here:

• sekura = safe

It describes la biciklo. In Esperanto, predicate adjectives also take the adjective ending -a, just as in:

• La domo estas granda. = The house is big.
• La biciklo estas sekura. = The bicycle is safe.

If the noun were plural, the adjective would also become plural:

• La bicikloj estas sekuraj. = The bicycles are safe.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• biciklo = a bicycle / bicycle
• la biciklo = the bicycle

Esperanto has only one article, la, and it does not change for gender, number, or case.

A learner may wonder whether Esperanto always needs an article like English does. The answer is no. Sometimes it is omitted, depending on meaning. But in this sentence, la biciklo refers to a specific bicycle already known from context, so the bicycle is appropriate.

Because there is no direct object here.

In Esperanto, -n usually marks the direct object. But in this sentence:

• Ŝi is the subject of deklaris
• la biciklo is the subject of estas
• sekura is a predicate adjective

So nothing here is a direct object.

Compare:

• Ŝi vidas la biciklon. = She sees the bicycle.
  Here biciklon gets -n because it is the direct object.

But in:

• La biciklo estas sekura.

la biciklo is the subject, so no -n is used.

In Esperanto, a comma is normally used before a subordinate clause introduced by words like ke.

So:

• Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estas sekura.

This is standard punctuation and helps show that the second part is a dependent clause.

English punctuation in similar sentences can be more flexible, but in Esperanto this comma is very normal and expected.

Ŝi is pronounced roughly like shee.

The letter ŝ is pronounced like English sh in shoe.

So:

• ŝi ≈ shee

This word means she.

A few helpful pronunciation notes for this sentence:

• ŝi = shee
• deklaris = deh-KLA-ris
• biciklo = bee-TSI-klo
• sekura = seh-KOO-ra

Esperanto spelling is very regular, so each letter has a consistent sound.

The given word order is the most natural and standard:

• Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estas sekura.

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible because endings show grammatical function, but that does not mean all orders are equally natural. This sentence uses the straightforward pattern:

• subject + verb
• then ke
  • subordinate clause

Inside the subordinate clause:

• la biciklo = subject
• estas = verb
• sekura = predicate adjective

You could sometimes rearrange parts for emphasis, but learners should stick to the standard order until they are comfortable with the language.

It is reported speech, also called indirect speech.

The sentence does not give the woman’s exact words. Instead, it reports the content of what she said:

• Ŝi deklaris, ke la biciklo estas sekura.

Direct speech would look more like:

• Ŝi deklaris: La biciklo estas sekura.

or

• Ŝi deklaris: Mi diras, ke la biciklo estas sekura.

In the original sentence, the clause after ke is embedded into the larger sentence, which is why it is indirect/reported speech.