Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ela dorme em casa; eu durmo no hotel. - She sleeps at home; I sleep at the hotel.

The verb dormir (to sleep) is slightly irregular. Normally, regular verbs ending in "-ir" keep the same vowel in their base, but for "I" (eu), the "o" changes to a "u", making it durmo. For "she" (ela), it stays as dorme.

Why do we say em casa but no hotel?

When we talk about someone's own home in a general sense ("at home"), we just use the preposition em (in/at) without adding "the", exactly like in English. But for "the hotel", we need to combine em with the masculine word for "the" (o) to make no (at the).

Do I have to include the pronouns ela and eu here?

You could drop them, because the verb forms (dorme and durmo) already give us a good clue about who is sleeping. However, including ela (she) and eu (I) in this specific sentence creates a strong contrast: she sleeps here, while I sleep there.

Is the "h" in hotel pronounced?

No, the letter "h" is always silent at the beginning of words in Portuguese. You pronounce hotel starting directly with the "o" sound, emphasizing the last syllable: "oh-TEL".