it
pron 1 (used of lifeless things, or animals; when sex is unknown or unimportant) hiki, hicho; huyo; huyu; hii, huu ~ is a book hiki ni kitabu. 2 (used to refer to group of words which follow infinitive phrases) ~ is easy to learn Kiswahili ni rahisi kujifunza Kiswahili; (construction with for) ~ was hard for her to live on beer brewing ilikuwa vigumu kwake kuishi kwa kupika pombe; (gerundial phrase) ~ is no use trying to win me back haitasaidia kujaribu kurudisha roho yangu; a clause: does ~ matter what you do next? ina tofauti yoyote kuwa utafanya nini baadaye? 3 (used to refer backwards or forwards to identify somebody or something except when the identity of the person is known) ~ is the milkman ni muuza maziwa. 4 (used as a formal or meaningless word to supply a subject) dealing with weather, atmospheric condition etc kuna ~ is hot kuna joto; (for time) ni ~ is 18th of January ni tarehe 18 ya Januari; (for distance) ~ is five kilometres to Kileleni ni kilometa tano hadi Kileleni; (vaguely for the general situation or for something that is understood from context) you've had ~ utakiona. 5 (used to bring into prominence one part of a sentence) ~ was his second book which made him famous ni kitabu chake cha pili kilichomfanya mashuhuri (the object of a verb) ~ is the pocket dictionary that I want ni kamusi ya mfukoni niitakayo (the object of a prep) ~ was Jimmy I gave the book to ni Jimmy niliyempa kitabu (an adverbal adjunct) ~ was on Monday that I saw him ilikuwa Jumatatu nilipomwona ~s (poss) adj -ake the dog wagged ~ s tail mbwa alitikisa mkia wake. ~ self reflex pron -enyewe. by ~self -enyewe the machine works by ~self mashine inajiendesha yenyewe, peke yake.