Usishike sufuria hiyo, ni moto.

Because usishike is a negative command addressed to one person: Don’t touch / don’t hold.

• shika = hold, touch, grab
• usishike = don’t hold / don’t touch

In Swahili, negative commands are not formed by just adding a separate word for don’t. Instead, the verb itself changes form.

So:

• Shika sufuria hiyo. = Touch/Hold that pot.
• Usishike sufuria hiyo. = Don’t touch/hold that pot.

Usishike can be broken down like this:

• u- = marker for you (singular)
• -si- = negative marker
• shik- = verb root from shika
• -e = final vowel used here in this negative command/subjunctive-type form

So the structure is:

u + si + shik + e → usishike

This is a very common pattern for negative commands to one person in Swahili.

That is a normal feature of this grammar pattern.

The basic dictionary form is:

• shika = to hold / touch

But in a negative command like don’t touch, Swahili uses the verb with -e:

• usishike = don’t touch

So a learner should notice that the final -a of many verbs often changes to -e in this kind of construction.

Compare:

• kula = eat

• usile = don’t eat

• kuja = come

• usije = don’t come

• shika = touch/hold
• usishike = don’t touch/hold

It is talking to one person.

If you were speaking to more than one person, you would say:

Msishike sufuria hiyo, ni moto.

So:

• usishike = don’t touch (singular)
• msishike = don’t touch (plural)

This is an important distinction in Swahili commands.

Sufuria means pot, cooking pot, or sometimes saucepan depending on context.

In everyday usage, it usually refers to the kind of pot used for cooking food on a stove or fire.

So in this sentence, sufuria hiyo means:

• that pot
• that cooking pot

In Swahili, demonstratives like this and that usually come after the noun.

So:

• sufuria hiyo = that pot
• literally: pot that

This is normal Swahili word order.

English says:

• that pot

Swahili says:

• sufuria hiyo

Because demonstratives in Swahili usually agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

Sufuria belongs to the N-class (often called class 9/10), and for that class, one common form of that is hiyo.

So:

• sufuria hiyo = that pot

You do not use the same demonstrative form for every noun in Swahili. The form changes depending on the noun class.

Literally, ni moto means it is hot.

• ni = is / it is
• moto = hot / heat / fire, depending on context

In this sentence, the meaning is clearly:

• it is hot

So the full sentence is:

Usishike sufuria hiyo, ni moto.
= Don’t touch that pot, it’s hot.

Because Swahili often does not need to state the subject as explicitly as English does in this kind of sentence.

In English, you say:

• it is hot

In Swahili, just saying:

• ni moto

is enough in context to mean:

• it is hot
• it’s hot

The it is understood from the situation—in this case, the pot.

It can relate to both ideas, depending on context.

• moto can mean fire
• it can also be used in expressions meaning hot

In ni moto, the natural meaning is:

• it is hot

because we are talking about a pot that someone should not touch.

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Yes, that is a good question. Shika often means hold, grab, or catch, but in many real situations it can also be used where English would simply say touch.

So in this sentence:

Usishike sufuria hiyo
the most natural English translation is often:

• Don’t touch that pot

even though the verb has a broader meaning than just a light touch.

If you translated it more literally, you might get:

• Don’t hold that pot
• Don’t grab that pot

But Don’t touch that pot is usually the best everyday English rendering here.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

oo-see-SHEE-keh soo-foo-REE-ah HEE-yoh, nee MOH-toh

A few helpful points:

• u sounds like oo
• i sounds like ee
• e sounds like eh
• o sounds like oh
• sh sounds like English sh
• Swahili vowels are usually pronounced clearly and consistently

So try reading it smoothly as:

Usishike sufuria hiyo, ni moto.

Yes. Usiguse sufuria hiyo would also be natural, and it means more directly:

• Don’t touch that pot

The verb:

• gusa = touch

So:

• usiguse = don’t touch

Compared with usishike, usiguse is more specifically about touching, while usishike can suggest don’t handle / don’t grab / don’t hold. In many situations, both work, but the nuance is slightly different.