Ŝi estis kuraĝa, sed ŝi ankoraŭ hontis pro sia eraro.

Because kuraĝa is an adjective, and it describes ŝi through the verb estis.

In Esperanto, after verbs like esti (to be), you normally use an adjective, not an adverb:

• Ŝi estis kuraĝa = She was brave.
• Ŝi estis feliĉa = She was happy.

An adverb in -e would describe the manner of an action, not the subject itself. So kuraĝe would mean bravely, as in:

• Ŝi parolis kuraĝe = She spoke bravely.

Both are in the past tense because they end in -is.

• estis = was / were
• hontis = was ashamed / felt ashamed

Esperanto has a very regular tense system:

• -as = present
• -is = past
• -os = future

So:

• ŝi estas kuraĝa = she is brave
• ŝi estis kuraĝa = she was brave
• ŝi estos kuraĝa = she will be brave

The same applies to honti:

• ŝi hontas = she is ashamed
• ŝi hontis = she was ashamed

It can often be understood either way in English.

The verb honti means to be ashamed or to feel shame. So:

• ŝi hontis can be translated as she was ashamed
• or she felt ashamed

English chooses between those based on style, but Esperanto just uses the normal verb honti.

Here ankoraŭ means still.

So:

• ŝi ankoraŭ hontis = she still felt ashamed

Depending on context, ankoraŭ can also mean yet or still, but in this sentence still is the natural meaning.

It shows that the feeling continued even after something else was true:

• she was brave,
• but she still felt ashamed.

Sed means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• Ŝi estis kuraĝa = She was brave
• sed ŝi ankoraŭ hontis... = but she still felt ashamed...

So the sentence is saying that both things were true at the same time, even though they may seem to pull in different directions.

Pro means because of, on account of, or due to.

So:

• hontis pro sia eraro = was ashamed because of her mistake

It introduces the cause of the shame.

Compare:

• pro la pluvo = because of the rain
• pro tio = because of that

Here, the cause is sia eraro = her own mistake.

This is one of the most important Esperanto grammar points.

Sia is the reflexive possessive adjective. It refers back to the subject of the clause.

In this sentence, the subject is ŝi. So:

• ŝi hontis pro sia eraro = she was ashamed because of her own mistake

Using sia shows that the mistake belonged to the subject herself.

If you said ŝia eraro, that would usually suggest the mistake belonged to some other female person, not the subject.

A helpful comparison:

• Maria vidis sian libron. = Maria saw her own book.
• Maria vidis ŝian libron. = Maria saw her book.
  (someone else’s book, belonging to another female)

So sia is exactly the right choice here.

Because it is the object of the preposition pro, not the direct object of a verb.

In Esperanto, nouns often take -n for the direct object, but after a preposition like pro, you normally do not add -n.

So:

• pro sia eraro = because of her mistake

not:

• pro sian eraron

The preposition already shows the grammatical role.

The word is eraro, meaning mistake or error.

It is built from the root erar- plus the noun ending -o:

• erari = to make a mistake / to err
• eraro = a mistake

This is a very common Esperanto pattern:

• root + -i = verb
• root + -o = noun
• root + -a = adjective
• root + -e = adverb

So from one root, you often get a whole word family.

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, though some positions sound more natural than others.

This sentence uses a very natural order:

• ŝi ankoraŭ hontis pro sia eraro

You could also see:

• ŝi hontis ankoraŭ pro sia eraro

but that is less neutral in everyday style.

Putting ankoraŭ before the verb is the clearest and most common choice here, because it naturally modifies the whole idea of hontis.

Because Esperanto usually states the subject clearly in each clause.

The sentence has two clauses:

• Ŝi estis kuraĝa
• sed ŝi ankoraŭ hontis pro sia eraro

Repeating ŝi makes the structure clear and natural. Leaving it out would sound incomplete in normal Esperanto.

English sometimes allows more omission in certain styles, but Esperanto generally prefers the subject to be expressed.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• ŝi sounds like shee
• ankoraŭ is roughly an-ko-ROW, with the stress on the second-to-last vowel group

A few useful pronunciation points:

• ŝ sounds like English sh
• aŭ sounds like a diphthong, similar to ow in cow
• Esperanto stress normally falls on the second-to-last syllable

So:

• kuraĝa → ku-RA-ĝa
• ankoraŭ → an-ko-RAŬ
• eraro → e-RA-ro

Yes. That is a very literal breakdown:

• Ŝi = she
• estis = was
• kuraĝa = brave
• sed = but
• ŝi = she
• ankoraŭ = still
• hontis = was ashamed
• pro = because of
• sia eraro = her own mistake

But in natural English, you would usually say:

• She was brave, but she still felt ashamed of her mistake.

Notice that English often says ashamed of where Esperanto uses honti pro. That is a translation difference, not a grammar problem.