Não toques no fogão, porque está quente.

Because this is a negative command addressed to tu.

In European Portuguese, negative commands use the present subjunctive, not the normal imperative form. So:

• tocar = to touch
• tu tocas = you touch
• não toques = don’t touch

Compare:

• Toca no fogão. = Touch the stove.
• Não toques no fogão. = Don’t touch the stove.

So não toques is the correct tu form for a negative command.

This sentence is addressed to tu.

You can tell from toques, which is the present subjunctive form used with tu in a negative command.

If it were addressed to você, it would be:

• Não toque no fogão, porque está quente.

This is an important distinction in Portuguese, because the verb form changes depending on whether you are speaking to tu or você.

No is a contraction of:

• em
  • o = no

Here it means something like on the or in the, depending on the context.

So:

• no fogão = on the stove

This kind of contraction is extremely common in Portuguese:

• em + o = no
• em + a = na
• em + os = nos
• em + as = nas

In Portuguese, the verb tocar often uses the preposition em when it means to touch something physically.

So:

• tocar em algo = to touch something

Because em + o becomes no, you get:

• tocar no fogão = to touch the stove

This is different from English, where touch usually takes a direct object without a preposition.

Fogão usually means stove or cooker.

In Portugal, it often refers to the appliance used for cooking, especially the part with the burners/hobs. Depending on context, English translations may vary a bit, but stove is the most straightforward match here.

If you specifically mean oven, Portuguese usually says:

• forno = oven

So fogão is not usually the best word for oven alone.

Because estar is used here for a temporary state or condition.

• está quente = it is hot / it’s hot right now

The stove is hot at the moment, probably because it is on or was recently used.

Using ser (é quente) would suggest something more permanent or characteristic, which does not fit as well here.

This is a classic Portuguese distinction:

• ser = permanent/essential characteristics
• estar = temporary states/conditions

The subject is omitted, but it is understood.

In this sentence, está quente means:

• it is hot

The it is not said explicitly in Portuguese because the context makes it clear that it refers to the stove (o fogão).

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when they are obvious from context.

Porque means because in this sentence.

It introduces the reason:

• Não toques no fogão = Don’t touch the stove
• porque está quente = because it’s hot

A common learner confusion is between:

• porque = because
• porquê = the reason / why (as a noun)
• por que = why / for what reason
• por quê = why? at the end of a sentence

Here, the sentence needs because, so porque is correct.

Yes. Quente means hot and can be used for many things:

• o fogão está quente = the stove is hot
• a sopa está quente = the soup is hot
• estou com calor = I am hot

For people, Portuguese often prefers ter calor or estar com calor rather than simply using quente in the same way English uses hot.

So quente works very naturally for objects like fogão.

Yes, it is completely natural.

Não toques no fogão, porque está quente. is a normal and idiomatic way to warn someone informally not to touch the stove.

It sounds like something a parent or adult might say to a child, or to someone they address as tu.

For a more formal version, you would say:

• Não toque no fogão, porque está quente.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Não toques no fogão, porque está quente.
• now TOH-kesh nuh fuh-GON, purk STAH KEN-tuh

A few notes:

• não has a nasal sound, not a clear English ow
• toques in European Portuguese often sounds closer to TOH-kesh
• fogão ends with a nasal -ão
• porque is often reduced in connected speech
• quente in European Portuguese may sound more closed and reduced than learners expect

If you are learning European Portuguese, it is especially useful to listen to native audio, because unstressed vowels are often reduced a lot.

Yes, and it would sound natural too, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• Não toques no fogão = Don’t touch the stove
• Não mexas no fogão = Don’t mess with / don’t handle / don’t touch the stove

Mexer em often suggests interacting with, fiddling with, or moving something, not just making physical contact.

So if the warning is specifically about heat, não toques is very precise.
If the warning is broader, não mexas can also work.