Mia kuzo volas resti hejme, sed mia kuzino preferas vojaĝi ĉiun someron.

In this sentence, kuzo means male cousin and kuzino means female cousin.

Esperanto often forms a female version of a word by adding -in-:

• kuzo = male cousin
• kuzino = female cousin

So kuzino breaks down like this:

• kuz- = cousin
• -in- = female
• -o = noun ending

This is a very common pattern in Esperanto.

Mia means my.

It appears twice because each noun has its own possessor:

• Mia kuzo = my cousin
• mia kuzino = my cousin

Esperanto usually repeats the possessive adjective when it belongs with a new noun, especially in a new clause. If you removed the second mia, then kuzino would just mean a female cousin, not necessarily my female cousin.

The ending -as marks the present tense in Esperanto.

So:

• volas = wants
• preferas = prefers

Esperanto verb endings do not change for different persons:

• mi volas = I want
• li volas = he wants
• ŝi volas = she wants
• ili volas = they want

That makes conjugation much simpler than in English.

In Esperanto, the infinitive already has its own ending: -i.

So:

• resti = to stay
• vojaĝi = to travel

After verbs like voli and preferi, Esperanto simply uses the infinitive directly:

• volas resti = wants to stay
• preferas vojaĝi = prefers to travel

English needs the extra word to, but Esperanto does not.

Resti means to stay or to remain.

In this sentence, volas resti hejme means wants to stay at home.

Depending on context, resti can also mean remain:

• Li restis trankvila. = He remained calm.
• Ŝi restis hejme. = She stayed at home.

This is a very common beginner question.

• hejmo = home, a home
• hejme = at home

The ending -e makes it function adverbially. With certain place words, this often expresses location without needing a preposition.

So:

• hejmo = home
• hejme = at home
• lernejo = school
• lerneje = at school

So resti hejme literally means something like stay home / stay at home, and hejme is the natural form here.

Vojaĝi means to travel.

It usually refers to traveling in general, going on trips, or moving from place to place, rather than specifically driving, flying, or walking.

So preferas vojaĝi ĉiun someron means prefers to travel every summer.

Also, the letter ĝ is pronounced roughly like the g in judge.

Here, the -n is not marking a direct object. It is being used for time expression.

In Esperanto, the accusative -n is often used to show when, how long, or how often without a preposition.

So:

• ĉiu somero = each summer / every summer as a basic noun phrase
• ĉiun someron = every summer, used adverbially in time

This is called the accusative of time or adverbial accusative.

Very common examples:

• ĉiun tagon = every day
• unu semajnon = for one week
• lundan = on Monday

Because ĉiu means each or every, and it normally goes with a singular noun.

So:

• ĉiu somero = each summer
• ĉiun someron = every summer

The idea is that you are looking at the summers one by one, not as a group.

This is very similar to English, where every summer is also singular, not every summers.

Yes, but it would usually be less natural here.

• ĉiun someron is the compact, standard Esperanto way to say every summer
• dum ĉiu somero would mean something more like during each summer

Both are understandable, but ĉiun someron is the more typical phrasing in a sentence like this.

The sentence has two main clauses joined by sed, which means but:

1. Mia kuzo volas resti hejme
2. sed mia kuzino preferas vojaĝi ĉiun someron

So the pattern is:

• subject + verb + infinitive/complement
• sed
• subject + verb + infinitive + time expression

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, but this order is very natural and easy to understand.

Sed means but and shows contrast.

That fits this sentence because the two cousins want different things:

• the cousin wants to stay home
• the female cousin prefers to travel

So sed connects two contrasting ideas. If you used kaj instead, it would sound more like you were just adding information, not highlighting the difference.