Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Na capital há sempre mais trânsito do que nas cidades pequenas, mas também mais oportunidades. - In the capital there is always more traffic than in small cities, but also more opportunities.

em + a capital → na capital = “in the capital”.
You can’t say em a capital; it must contract to na.
Using just em capital would sound incomplete/odd here, because you are talking about the capital in general, not “in capital” as an abstract concept.

So Na capital literally means “In the capital (city)”.

Why is há used here instead of tem or existe for “there is/are”?

In European Portuguese, há (from haver) is the most standard, neutral way to say “there is / there are”:

Na capital há sempre mais trânsito… → “In the capital there is always more traffic…”

Some points:

haver in this meaning is impersonal (no real subject):
- Há trânsito. (not Eles hão trânsito.)
há is very common in both spoken and written European Portuguese.
tem = “has” and in European Portuguese is not usually used as “there is/there are” the way it is in Brazilian Portuguese.
existe / existem also exist, but há is shorter and more commonly used here:
- Há mais trânsito ≈ Existe mais trânsito, but há sounds more natural in this sentence.

Why is the word order há sempre and not sempre há? Are both possible?

Both orders are grammatically possible, but they don’t feel equally natural in this sentence.

Há sempre mais trânsito… is the most neutral, common order:
- há (there is/are) + sempre (always) + rest.
Sempre há mais trânsito… is possible, but it sounds more emphatic or stylistic, and less neutral in European Portuguese.

So in everyday usage, Há sempre… is the default and most idiomatic here.

What does trânsito mean exactly? Is it the same as English “transit”?

trânsito usually means road traffic: the flow of cars, buses, etc. on the streets.

mais trânsito = “more traffic (on the roads)”.

It is not a direct equivalent of English “transit” as in “public transit/transport”. For that, European Portuguese would normally say:

transportes públicos or transporte público = public transport.

So you should think of trânsito primarily as traffic, not “transit system”.

How does the comparison mais trânsito do que nas cidades pequenas work? What is do que?

The structure for comparisons of superiority is:

mais + adjective/noun/adverb + do que = “more … than …”

Here:

mais trânsito = more traffic
do que = than
nas cidades pequenas = in (the) small cities

So: mais trânsito do que nas cidades pequenas = “more traffic than in small cities”.

do que is itself a contraction:

de + o que → do que

In practice, you can usually just remember mais … do que … as the standard “more … than …” pattern.

Why is it nas cidades pequenas and not em cidades pequenas?

nas is a contraction of em + as (in + the), so:

nas cidades pequenas = “in the small cities”.

Using the definite article as (the) gives the idea of small cities in general as a class (“small cities, as opposed to the capital”).

If you said em cidades pequenas (without the article), it would lean more towards:

“in (some) small cities” / “in small cities” in a looser, more indefinite sense.

Here, the contrast is the capital vs (the) small cities, so nas cidades pequenas with the article feels more natural and generic.

Why is the adjective after the noun in cidades pequenas and not pequenas cidades? Is there a difference?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:

cidades pequenas = literally “cities small”.

This is the neutral, default order.

Putting the adjective before the noun (pequenas cidades) is possible, but can add nuances (like subjectivity, emotional coloring, or emphasis). For example:

pequenas cidades might emphasize the quality “small” more, or suggest “little towns” with a certain tone.

Here, cidades pequenas is the most straightforward, neutral way to say “small cities”.

What exactly does nas in do que nas cidades pequenas stand for?

nas is a contraction of em + as:

em + as cidades pequenas → nas cidades pequenas
Literally: “in the small cities”.

So the sequence is:

mais trânsito do que nas cidades pequenas
= more traffic than in the small cities.

Why is there a comma before mas? Is it always like that?

Yes, in Portuguese you normally put a comma before “mas” when it introduces a new clause:

…, mas também mais oportunidades.

This is similar to English:

“..., but also more opportunities.”

mas is a coordinating conjunction (“but”) linking two ideas in contrast, and standard punctuation places a comma before it in sentences like this.

The second part says mas também mais oportunidades. Why isn’t there another há?

The verb há is understood (elliptical) in the second part:

Full form: Na capital há sempre mais trânsito…, mas também há mais oportunidades.
Actual sentence drops the second há: …, mas também mais oportunidades.

This is very natural in Portuguese when the verb would just repeat:

Ele compra pão e (compra) leite. → normally: Ele compra pão e leite.

So the full meaning is:
“In the capital there is always more traffic than in small cities, but there are also more opportunities.”

What does também add here? Could we omit it?

também = “also / too / as well”.

Here, it highlights that the capital has not only more traffic (a negative aspect), but also more opportunities (a positive aspect).

mas mais oportunidades → “but more opportunities” (neutral contrast)
mas também mais oportunidades → “but also more opportunities” (clearer “on the other hand” feel).

You could omit também, but you would lose that explicit sense of “on the plus side / as well”.

Why is oportunidades plural, and what gender is it?

oportunidade is a feminine noun:

singular: a oportunidade (the opportunity)
plural: as oportunidades (the opportunities)

In mais oportunidades, the noun is in the plural because we are talking about opportunities in general, in a non-counted way:

mais oportunidade (singular) would sound wrong here.
We naturally think of “more opportunities” as multiple chances, so oportunidades is plural.

Gender and plural don’t change with mais:

mais oportunidades (feminine plural)
mais trânsito (masculine singular)

Is there any difference between capital and cidade in Portuguese, like in English?

Yes, it’s similar to English:

a capital = the capital city of a country or region (Lisbon, for Portugal).
cidade = a city in general.

In the sentence:

Na capital refers to the capital city (implicitly known).
nas cidades pequenas refers to small cities in general, contrasted with the capital.

So the structure is: capital city (big, central) vs small cities (smaller, less central) in terms of traffic and opportunities.