À noite, o shopping fica mais lotado do que de manhã.

À noite means at night or in the evening, depending on context.

The à is a contraction of:

• a = the preposition at / to
• a = the feminine definite article the

So:

• a + a = à

This expression is fixed and very common in Portuguese:

• de manhã = in the morning
• à tarde = in the afternoon
• à noite = at night / in the evening

The grave accent on à is important because it shows that contraction.

This is mostly just how these time expressions are conventionally used in Portuguese.

The standard pairings are:

• de manhã = in the morning
• à tarde = in the afternoon
• à noite = at night / in the evening

So even though English uses a similar pattern for all three (in the morning / in the afternoon / at night), Portuguese uses different prepositions here.

This is something learners usually just memorize as set expressions.

Yes, de noite exists and is common in speech, but à noite is generally the more standard and expected choice in a sentence like this.

Very roughly:

• à noite = more standard, very common in writing and speech
• de noite = also common, often a bit more conversational

So for learners, à noite is the safest form to use here.

In Brazilian Portuguese, shopping usually means shopping mall or mall, not the activity of shopping.

So:

• o shopping = the mall / the shopping center

Example:

• Vou ao shopping. = I’m going to the mall.

This is a very common Brazilian usage. If you translate it too literally as the English activity shopping, the sentence will sound strange.

Here, ficar is being used to express a change of state or the idea that something ends up in a certain condition.

So:

• ficar lotado = to get crowded / to become crowded
• in context, it can also sound like is more crowded

Why not the others?

• ser would sound wrong here, because ser is used more for identity or essential characteristics.
• estar could describe a current state, but ficar is very natural when talking about how a place gets at a certain time.

So o shopping fica mais lotado suggests:

• the mall gets more crowded at night
• or, more naturally in English, the mall is more crowded at night

Both can work, depending on how natural you want the English to sound.

Literally, fica often suggests gets / becomes.

So a close translation is:

• At night, the mall gets more crowded than in the morning.

But in natural English, you might also say:

• At night, the mall is more crowded than in the morning.

So the Portuguese carries a slight idea of change or tendency, but in practice English often uses just is.

Lotado means full, packed, or crowded, depending on context.

With places like a mall, bus, restaurant, or beach, it often means:

• crowded
• packed

Examples:

• O ônibus está lotado. = The bus is packed.
• A praia fica lotada no verão. = The beach gets crowded in the summer.

In this sentence, mais lotado is best understood as more crowded.

This is the standard comparative pattern:

• mais + adjective + do que = more + adjective + than

So:

• mais lotado = more crowded
• do que de manhã = than in the morning

Full structure:

• o shopping fica mais lotado do que de manhã
• the mall gets/is more crowded than in the morning

Other examples:

• Ela é mais alta do que eu. = She is taller than me.
• Hoje está mais quente do que ontem. = Today it’s hotter than yesterday.

Yes. In many cases, both que and do que are possible after a comparative.

So these are both natural:

• mais lotado do que de manhã
• mais lotado que de manhã

That said, do que can sound a little clearer or a little more formal in some contexts, and many learners are taught that version first.

So for safety:

• mais ... do que is an excellent default pattern.

That’s a very good question. Strictly speaking, lotado can suggest something like full to capacity, so from a logical point of view, more full may sound odd.

But in real Brazilian Portuguese, mais lotado is very common and natural. Speakers often use lotado more loosely to mean very crowded, not only completely full.

So mais lotado is a normal everyday way to say:

• more crowded
• more packed

This is one of those cases where natural usage matters more than strict logic.

The comma separates the introductory time expression from the rest of the sentence:

• À noite, o shopping fica...

It works a lot like English:

• At night, the mall is more crowded...

The comma is helpful and very natural here, especially in writing. It is not absolutely required in every short sentence like this, but using it is perfectly correct and common.

Yes. Portuguese is flexible here.

You can say:

• À noite, o shopping fica mais lotado do que de manhã.
• O shopping fica mais lotado à noite do que de manhã.

Both are natural.

The difference is mainly emphasis:

• À noite, ... emphasizes the time first
• O shopping fica mais lotado... starts with the subject and sounds a bit more neutral

It normally expresses a general tendency or usual fact.

Because the verb is in the present tense (fica), the sentence usually means something like:

• At night, the mall tends to be more crowded than in the morning
• The mall is usually more crowded at night than in the morning

It does not usually mean just one specific night unless the context makes that clear.