O tabuleiro do forno ainda está quente, por isso não lhe toques.

Because this is a negative command: don’t touch it.

In Portuguese, negative commands are formed with:

• não
  • the present subjunctive

So with tu, the verb tocar becomes:

• (tu) tocas = you touch / you are touching
• não toques = don’t touch

So:

• Não tocas. = You don’t touch.
• Não toques. = Don’t touch.

That is why toques is used here.

That is a very common question.

In this sentence, lhe refers to o tabuleiro and means something like it.

With the verb tocar, Portuguese often treats the thing touched differently from English. In European Portuguese, tocar can take an indirect-object pronoun such as lhe:

• Não lhe toques. = Don’t touch it.

So even though English says touch it, Portuguese can use lhe here.

This feels very natural in European Portuguese, even though it may seem strange to an English speaker.

Because não triggers proclisis, which means the object pronoun goes before the verb.

So:

• Não lhe toques. = Don’t touch it.

Without a word like não, pronoun placement is often different in Portuguese. But after negation, the pronoun normally comes before the verb.

So the order here is completely regular:

• não
  • lhe
    • toques

Yes, you may hear forms like não toques nele, especially in contexts where the pronoun is expressed differently.

But in this sentence, não lhe toques is a very natural European Portuguese way to say don’t touch it.

For a learner, the important point is:

• não lhe toques = standard and natural in European Portuguese
• it may not match English structure directly, but it is idiomatic

Because está is used for a temporary state.

Here, the tray is hot right now, because it has been in the oven. That is not a permanent characteristic.

So:

• está quente = it is hot at the moment
• é quente = it is hot by nature / generally hot

In this sentence, the temporary meaning is exactly what we want, so está quente is correct.

Here, ainda means still.

So:

• ainda está quente = is still hot

It suggests that some time has passed, but the tray has not cooled down yet.

Por isso means so, therefore, or for that reason.

It links the two parts of the sentence:

• O tabuleiro do forno ainda está quente = The oven tray is still hot
• por isso não lhe toques = so don’t touch it

It introduces the consequence: the tray is hot, so you should not touch it.

Do is a contraction of:

• de + o = do

So:

• tabuleiro do forno literally means tray of the oven

In natural English, that becomes:

• the oven tray
• the baking tray
  depending on context

This de + article contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• do = de + o
• da = de + a
• dos = de + os
• das = de + as

In this context, tabuleiro means a tray, especially a tray used in the oven.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• oven tray
• baking tray
• baking sheet
• sometimes just tray

The exact English word depends on the type of tray, but the Portuguese word tabuleiro is perfectly normal here.

The form toques shows that the sentence is addressing tu.

In European Portuguese, tu is very common in informal speech with family, friends, children, and people you know well.

So this sentence sounds like an informal warning to one person:

• não lhe toques = don’t touch it

If the speaker were using você, the form would be different:

• não lhe toque

Yes, it sounds clearly natural in European Portuguese.

A learner of Portugal Portuguese should especially notice:

• the use of lhe with tocar
• the command form não ... toques
• the overall structure of the warning

Even if other varieties of Portuguese might express the idea a little differently, this sentence is very good European Portuguese.

It has two parts:

1. O tabuleiro do forno ainda está quente
   = The oven tray is still hot

2. por isso não lhe toques
   = so don’t touch it

So the pattern is:

• statement of reason
  • por isso
    • warning/command

This is a very useful everyday structure in Portuguese, for example:

• Está frio, por isso leva um casaco.
  = It’s cold, so take a coat.

• O chão está molhado, por isso não corras.
  = The floor is wet, so don’t run.