Não mexas no interruptor, por favor.

please

Breakdown of Não mexas no interruptor, por favor.

• não: not
• o interruptor: the switch
• mexer: to use

Questions & Answers about Não mexas no interruptor, por favor.

What does mexer mean in this sentence?

Here mexer does not just mean to move in a literal sense. In the expression mexer em something, it often means:

• to touch
• to fiddle with
• to mess with
• to tamper with

So Não mexas no interruptor sounds like telling someone not to touch or fiddle with the switch.

Why is it no interruptor and not just o interruptor?

Because mexer in this sense normally takes the preposition em:

• mexer em algo = to touch / meddle with something

Then em + o contracts to no:

• em o interruptor → no interruptor

This is very common in Portuguese. Similar contractions are:

• em + a → na
• em + os → nos
• em + as → nas

So no interruptor is grammatically required here.

Why is the verb form mexas?