Breakdown of Non ingerire per nessun motivo.
non
not
per
for / in order to / because of
il motivo
the reason
nessuno
no / not any (+ noun)
ingerire
to ingest / to swallow
Questions & Answers about Non ingerire per nessun motivo.
Why does this warning use the infinitive ingerire instead of a formal command like non ingerisca?
This is the Jussive Infinitive (infinito iussivo). It is used on warning labels, instruction manuals, and public signs to give impersonal instructions to the general public. While non + infinitive looks exactly like the informal negative tu imperative, in this context it acts as a general rule directed at anyone reading it, rather than a command to a specific individual.
I learned that "to swallow" is inghiottire. Why use ingerire here?
Ingerire translates more closely to "to ingest." It is a formal, clinical term, which makes it the standard choice for medical or chemical warning labels. In everyday conversation, like talking about swallowing food or a pill, you would indeed use inghiottire or mandare giù.
Why does the Italian say nessun (no) when the English translation says "any"?
Italian requires a double negative when the negative word follows the verb. Because the sentence's action is already negated by non, the following adjective must also be negative. So, non... nessun motivo literally means "do not... for no reason," which we translate into natural English as "do not... for any reason."
Why is it nessun motivo instead of nessuno motivo?
Nessuno drops its final -o depending on the noun that follows it, exactly matching the rules for the indefinite article un / uno. Since motivo starts with a standard consonant, it takes the truncated form nessun (just like un motivo). You only use nessuno before masculine nouns starting with s+consonant, z, gn, ps, or pn (like nessuno zaino).
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