Mia amikino diris, ke ŝi preferas poemon, kiam ŝi ne havas tempon por longa romano.

-ino is the Esperanto suffix for female.

• amiko = friend
• amikino = female friend

So Mia amikino means my female friend. If the speaker did not want to specify gender, they might say mia amiko in traditional Esperanto, though in modern usage some speakers prefer other gender-neutral options in certain contexts.

Mia is the possessive form meaning my. In Esperanto, possessives behave a lot like adjectives, so they can agree with the noun.

Here:

• mia = my
• amikino = female friend

Because amikino is singular and not accusative, mia stays just mia.

You would see changes only if agreement is needed, for example:

• miaj amikinoj = my female friends
• mian amikinon = my female friend (as a direct object)

Ke means that.

It introduces a subordinate clause:

• Mia amikino diris = My female friend said
• ke ŝi preferas poemon... = that she prefers a poem...

So ke works just like English that in a sentence like She said that...

This is a very common question for English speakers.

• diris = said, so the speaking happened in the past
• preferas = prefers, because the preference is presented as generally true or true at that time

Esperanto does not always do the same kind of tense backshifting that English often does.

English often says:

• She said that she preferred...

But Esperanto can naturally say:

• Ŝi diris, ke ŝi preferas...

This keeps the tense that matches the meaning inside the subordinate clause. If her preference is being stated as a real or ongoing preference, preferas is very normal.

If you said preferis, that would sound more like the preference itself is specifically located in the past.

Because Esperanto normally states the subject clearly in each clause.

• Mia amikino diris = My female friend said
• ke ŝi preferas... = that she prefers...

The second ŝi is the subject of preferas. Esperanto usually does not drop subject pronouns the way some languages do.

So even though English and Esperanto both understand that it refers to the friend, Esperanto still says ŝi explicitly.

The -n ending marks the direct object.

Here:

• preferas poemon = prefers a poem
  poemon is what she prefers, so it gets -n
• havas tempon = has time
  tempon is what she has, so it also gets -n

This is one of the most important endings in Esperanto.

Compare:

• poemo = a poem
• poemon = a poem as a direct object

Because romano is not the direct object of a verb here.

In por longa romano:

• por = for
• longa romano = a long novel

The phrase por longa romano is a prepositional phrase, and the noun after por normally does not take -n just for being after the preposition.

So:

• havas tempon = has time → tempon gets -n
• por longa romano = for a long novel → romano does not get -n

Because adjectives agree with nouns in Esperanto.

• longa = long
• romano = novel

Both are singular, and neither is accusative here, so they stay:

• longa romano

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too:

• longaj romanoj = long novels
• longan romanon = a long novel (direct object)

This agreement is very regular in Esperanto.

Because Esperanto uses la only for the. It does not have an article for a/an.

So:

• poemon can mean a poem
• longa romano can mean a long novel

If the speaker meant a specific one already known to the listener, they could say:

• la poemon = the poem
• la longan romanon = the long novel

Here the sentence is talking more generally, so no la is needed.

Kiam means when.

It introduces a time clause:

• kiam ŝi ne havas tempon por longa romano
  = when she does not have time for a long novel

So the sentence means that her preference for a poem applies in that situation.

In Esperanto, ne is the normal word for not. It usually goes directly before the word or phrase it negates.

So:

• havas = has
• ne havas = does not have

This is very straightforward compared with English, because there is no need for do/does/did support.

Examples:

• Mi havas tempon. = I have time.
• Mi ne havas tempon. = I do not have time.

Yes, Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, but not all versions are equally natural.

The original sentence is very normal:

• Mia amikino diris, ke ŝi preferas poemon, kiam ŝi ne havas tempon por longa romano.

Because Esperanto marks objects with -n, it can sometimes move things around more freely than English. But learners should usually keep the most neutral order:

• subject + verb + object

For example, ŝi preferas poemon is the most straightforward order.

You might see rearrangements for emphasis, but the original version is the best model for everyday usage.

Ŝi is pronounced roughly like shee in English.

A few pronunciation notes:

• ŝ sounds like English sh
• i sounds like ee

So:

• ŝi ≈ shee

This is the normal Esperanto pronoun for she.

Yes, poemon is singular on purpose.

• poemon = a poem
• poemojn = poems

With preferi, the singular often means she prefers a poem / the poem form in that situation, rather than a long novel.

If you said preferas poemojn, that would suggest she prefers poems in general as a plural category. Both can be grammatical, but they are slightly different in feel.

Here, the singular sounds very natural.