Maktaba iko magharibi mwa shule.

to be

Breakdown of Maktaba iko magharibi mwa shule.

• shule: the school
• maktaba: the library
• magharibi mwa: to the west of

Questions & Answers about Maktaba iko magharibi mwa shule.

What does each word in Maktaba iko magharibi mwa shule do?

A simple breakdown is:

• maktaba = library
• iko = is located / is
• magharibi = west
• mwa shule = of the school / relative to the school

So the structure is basically:

library + is located + west of the school

Why is iko used here instead of ni?

In Swahili, ni is usually used to say that something is something else in the sense of identity or classification:

• Huyu ni mwalimu = This is a teacher
• Hii ni shule = This is a school

But for location, Swahili usually uses forms like iko rather than ni:

• Maktaba iko hapa = The library is here
• Shule iko mjini = The school is in town

So in your sentence, iko tells you where the library is located, not what it is.

What exactly is iko grammatically?