No centro comercial, entrei no provador para ver se a saia me ficava bem.

No is a contraction of em + o, so it means in the.

• em o centro comercial becomes no centro comercial
• em o provador becomes no provador

This kind of contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• na = em + a
• nos = em + os
• nas = em + as

So No centro comercial literally means In the shopping centre, and entrei no provador means I went into the fitting room.

Yes. In Portugal, centro comercial is the standard term for a shopping centre or mall.

A native speaker in Portugal would naturally say:

• Vou ao centro comercial. = I’m going to the shopping centre.

English speakers sometimes expect a shorter word like mall, but in European Portuguese, centro comercial is the normal everyday expression.

Provador is the place in a clothes shop where you try clothes on. In English, this is usually fitting room or changing room.

It comes from the verb provar, which can mean to try on when talking about clothes.

So:

• provar uma saia = to try on a skirt
• provador = fitting room / changing room

Entrei is the pretérito perfeito of entrar. It means I entered / I went in.

It is used because the speaker is describing a completed action in the past:

• entrei no provador = I went into the fitting room

This tense is very common for telling a sequence of past actions in Portuguese.

Compare:

• entrei = I went in / I entered
• entrava = I was going in / I used to go in

Here, the action is a single completed event, so entrei is the natural choice.

Para ver se means to see if or in order to see whether.

It is a very common Portuguese structure:

• Fui lá para ver se estava aberto. = I went there to see if it was open.
• Liguei para ver se ele atendia. = I called to see if he would answer.

In your sentence:

• entrei no provador para ver se... = I went into the fitting room to see if...

So para shows purpose, and ver se introduces the thing being checked.

In European Portuguese, object pronouns often come after the verb in main affirmative clauses:

• Fica-me bem. = It suits me.

But in subordinate clauses, especially after words like se, pronouns usually come before the verb. That is what happens here:

• ... para ver se a saia me ficava bem

So me ficava is normal because the clause is introduced by se.

A useful contrast:

• A saia ficava-me bem. = The skirt suited me.
• Queria ver se a saia me ficava bem. = I wanted to see if the skirt suited me.

Here ficava is the imperfect, and it sounds natural because the speaker is talking about something they wanted to check at that past moment.

The idea is not that the speaker already knows the result. It is more like:

• to see if the skirt would suit me
• to see if the skirt looked good on me

Compare:

• fica-me bem = it suits me / it looks good on me
• ficou-me bem = it suited me / it ended up looking good on me
• me ficava bem = it suited me / would suit me, from that past point of view

After expressions like ver se, Portuguese often uses the imperfect in this kind of tentative, evaluative context.

In this sentence, ficar bem can cover a few related ideas:

• to look good on someone
• to suit someone
• sometimes to fit well

With clothes, ficar bem often suggests the overall result: the item looks right on you and suits you.

So a saia me ficava bem is not only about size. It is more about whether the skirt was right for the speaker in appearance and fit.

If you want to focus more specifically on size, Portuguese might also use servir:

• A saia serve-me. = The skirt fits me.

So:

• servir = fit in size
• ficar bem = suit / look good / fit nicely overall

Portuguese normally uses definite articles very naturally with specific nouns, and here a saia means the skirt.

The speaker is talking about a particular skirt, not skirts in general.

So:

• a saia = the skirt
• uma saia = a skirt

If the skirt has already been identified in the situation, a saia is the expected form.

Yes. The original sentence is natural, but there are other ways to say something very similar:

• No centro comercial, entrei no provador para ver se a saia me assentava bem.
• No centro comercial, fui ao provador ver se a saia me ficava bem.
• Entrei no provador, no centro comercial, para ver se a saia me ficava bem.

A small nuance:

• ficar bem = look good / suit
• assentar bem = sit well on the body, suit well, often very natural with clothes

In Portugal, both ficar bem and assentar bem are common when talking about clothes.