No primeiro confinamento, muitas lojas fecharam e só reabriram meses depois.

No is the contraction of em + o (in + the), so:

• em + o → no
• Literal idea: "in the first lockdown"

You can't say *em primeiro confinamento here; you need the definite article o (the), so it must be em o primeiro confinamento → no primeiro confinamento.

Alternatives that are also correct but slightly different in nuance:

• Durante o primeiro confinamento – During the first lockdown (focus on the whole period)
• No primeiro confinamento – In the first lockdown (also time reference, very natural)

But no is mandatory if you keep em and o together in this structure.

In Portuguese, ordinal numbers (first, second, third…) normally come before the noun:

• o primeiro confinamento – the first lockdown
• o segundo dia – the second day
• a terceira tentativa – the third attempt

Putting the ordinal after the noun (*confinamento primeiro) is not correct in this context. The normal, standard word order is article + ordinal + noun: o primeiro confinamento.

All three can exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same:

• Muitas lojas fecharam

  • muitas = many / a lot of
  • No article before lojas is needed with muitas.
  • Neutral, just states: Many shops closed.

• As lojas fecharam

  • Means the shops (in general / those we have in mind) closed.
  • More like the shops as a group, not focusing on quantity.

• As muitas lojas fecharam

  • Grammatically possible, but sounds unusual here.
  • Emphasises "the many shops" as a known, specific group.

For a general statement about what happened during lockdown, Muitas lojas fecharam is the most natural.

The pretérito perfeito in Portuguese is used for completed actions in the past, often seen as events:

• muitas lojas fecharam – many shops (at some point) closed
• (e) só reabriram meses depois – and only reopened months later

Both fechar and reabrir here are viewed as one-off events: they closed at a certain time, then reopened at a later time.

The imperfect would change the meaning:

• muitas lojas fechavam – many shops used to close / were closing (habitual or ongoing)
• reabriam meses depois – they used to reopen months later / were in the process of reopening

That doesn’t fit the idea of one closure and one reopening per shop, linked to the lockdown. So the pretérito perfeito is the correct and natural choice.

Here só means only (in the sense of only then, not until).

• só reabriram meses depois
  = they only reopened months later / they didn’t reopen until months later

About position:

1. Só reabriram meses depois – very natural; só focuses the verb: they only reopened then.
2. Reabriram só meses depois – also correct, with a very similar meaning; the “only” idea is attached more strongly to “months later”.
3. Reabriram meses depois só – sounds odd or wrong in this sentence.

You can often move só a bit, but the most common versions here are:

• só reabriram meses depois
• reabriram só meses depois

Yes, you can say:

• …muitas lojas fecharam e apenas reabriram meses depois.

apenas also means only, but:

• só is more colloquial and common in speech.
• apenas is a bit more formal or written, and sometimes can mean “just” / “merely” in a slightly softer, less dramatic way.

In this specific sentence, both are correct; só is what you’d most naturally hear in everyday conversation.

• meses depois

  • Literally: “months later”
  • Very common time expression: X aconteceu meses depois – X happened months later.

• depois de meses

  • Literally: “after months”
  • Slightly different focus: Depois de meses, reabriram.
    = After (several) months, they reopened.
  • Sounds a bit more like you’re emphasising the waiting period.

• meses mais tarde

  • Also “months later”, very close to meses depois.
  • Maybe a touch more narrative/story-like, but essentially similar.

In your sentence, all are grammatically possible:

• …só reabriram meses depois.
• …só reabriram depois de meses.
• …só reabriram meses mais tarde.

The most neutral and usual is meses depois.

In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender, often not predictable for learners. Confinamento happens to be masculine, so:

• o confinamento – the lockdown
• no confinamento – in the lockdown (em + o)
• no primeiro confinamento – in the first lockdown

There isn’t a logical reason here; it’s just part of the word’s dictionary entry:

• confinamento (masc.)
  → o confinamento, um confinamento, no confinamento, do confinamento, etc.

Confinamento existed before COVID and can be used more generally for confinement / being confined.

However, in recent years in European Portuguese:

• o confinamento usually refers to COVID lockdowns, especially if you say primeiro confinamento, segundo confinamento, etc.
• Context will tell you whether it’s about COVID or another situation (e.g. prison, isolation), but nowadays most people immediately think of the pandemic when they hear it in this kind of sentence.

No. In Portuguese, the verb must agree in number with the subject:

• as lojas – plural → fecharam (they closed)
• a loja – singular → fechou (it closed)

Unlike some colloquial English uses of a collective noun (e.g. the team is / are), Portuguese is much stricter: plural subject → plural verb. So:

• ✅ Muitas lojas fecharam.
• ❌ *Muitas lojas fechou.

In European Portuguese (rough approximation in English-like spelling):

• fecharam → fsh-AH-rung

  • fe-: the e is very reduced, almost like just fsh
  • -char-: ch = sh sound
  • stressed on -a-: -Á-
  • final -am is a nasal sound, like a nasalised ung

• reabriram → he-ah-BREE-rung

  • initial r in re- is a guttural sound at the back of the throat
  • re-a- is almost like a quick he-ah
  • stress on -bri-: BRI
  • final -am again nasal: ung

Both are stressed on the second-to-last syllable: fe-CHA-ram, re-a-BRI-ram.