Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Depois do incêndio, alguns animais ficaram sem abrigo e sem oxigénio suficiente. - After the fire, some animals were left without shelter and without enough oxygen.

In Portuguese, when depois de is followed by a specific thing (a particular fire, the one everyone already knows about), you normally use the definite article:

depois de + o incêndio → depois do incêndio
depois de + a festa → depois da festa

Do is just the contraction of de + o.

If you said depois de incêndio, it would sound incomplete or unidiomatic in this context, a bit like saying “after fire” in English instead of “after the fire” or “after a fire”.

Why is there a comma after Depois do incêndio?

When an adverbial phrase of time (like depois do incêndio, ontem, naquela noite) comes at the beginning of a sentence, it is usually followed by a comma:

Depois do incêndio, alguns animais…
Naquele dia, ninguém saiu de casa.

If you put the time phrase at the end, you usually don’t use a comma:

Alguns animais ficaram sem abrigo depois do incêndio.

Why is it alguns animais instead of just animais?

Alguns means “some”. It indicates that not all the animals were affected, just part of the group.

alguns animais = some animals
os animais = the animals (all, in general)
animais (with no article) is possible, but here it would sound less natural and less specific.

So alguns animais matches the English nuance of some animals.

Why is it alguns and not algumas?

Alguns is the masculine plural form of algum.

alguns animais (masculine plural)
algumas pessoas (feminine plural)

The word animal in Portuguese is grammatically masculine (o animal, os animais), even if you’re talking about male and female animals in general. So the adjective/pronoun must match in gender and number:

alguns animais (correct)
algumas animais (incorrect)

What exactly does ficaram mean here? Is it “stayed” or “became” or something else?

The verb ficar is very flexible. In this sentence, ficaram means “ended up” or “were left”:

alguns animais ficaram sem abrigo
→ some animals were left without shelter / some animals ended up with no shelter

So here ficar is not so much “to stay” as “to wind up in a certain state” after the fire.

Why is the tense ficaram (preterite) and not ficavam (imperfect)?

ficaram (pretérito perfeito) presents a completed result: after the fire, they ended up in that state (without shelter and oxygen).
ficavam (pretérito imperfeito) would suggest an ongoing, repeated, or background situation in the past (e.g. “they used to be left without shelter” or “they were often left…”).

Here we’re talking about a specific event and its result, so ficaram is the natural choice.

Why is it sem abrigo and not sem um abrigo?

With sem (without), Portuguese often omits the article when talking about something in a general, non‑countable way:

sem abrigo = without shelter (no shelter at all)
sem água = without water
sem comida = without food

You can say sem um abrigo, but that would sound more like “without a shelter / without a specific shelter” (e.g. one particular shelter or physical structure). In this context, the idea is general lack of shelter, so sem abrigo is better.

Does abrigo only mean “shelter”, or can it mean other things?

In European Portuguese, abrigo can mean:

Shelter / refuge (the meaning here):
- sem abrigo = without shelter
A physical shelter/structure:
- um abrigo de autocarro = a bus shelter
Less commonly, it can refer to certain kinds of protective clothing (in some contexts), but that’s not the default meaning.

In this sentence, it clearly means shelter in the sense of a safe place to stay.

Why is it sem oxigénio suficiente and not sem suficiente oxigénio?

In Portuguese, most adjectives come after the noun, including suficiente:

oxigénio suficiente = sufficient oxygen / enough oxygen
água suficiente, tempo suficiente, etc.

Suficiente can sometimes appear before the noun (e.g. in formal writing or fixed expressions), but oxigénio suficiente is the normal, neutral order here.
Sem suficiente oxigénio would sound unusual or marked.

Why is there no article before oxigénio suficiente (why not sem o oxigénio suficiente)?

Here oxigénio is treated like a mass/uncountable noun (like “water” or “air”), in a general sense:

sem oxigénio suficiente = without enough oxygen (in general)

If you said sem o oxigénio suficiente, it would sound like you’re referring to some specific, already known amount of oxygen (e.g. “without the sufficient oxygen that had been calculated”). That would be much more specific and less natural in this context.

Why is oxigénio spelled with é and not ê or without an accent? Is this different in Brazil?

In European Portuguese, the correct spelling is oxigénio (with é):

oxigénio (Portugal)
oxigênio (Brazil)

Both mean oxygen; the difference is just regional spelling and pronunciation.

The accent in oxigénio marks the stressed syllable: gé is stressed: o-xi-gé-nio.
Without the accent, the pronunciation/stress rules would be different.