El president parla amb l'agent.

Because el is the definite article, meaning the.

• El president = the president
• president on its own would usually mean president as a general noun, not a specific one.

In this sentence, Catalan needs the article because it is talking about a specific president.

Parla is the third-person singular present indicative of the verb parlar (to speak, to talk).

So it matches:

• ell parla = he speaks / he is speaking
• ella parla = she speaks / she is speaking
• el president parla = the president speaks / is speaking

The ending -a is the normal present-tense ending for he/she/it with many -ar verbs.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person.

So:

• Parla already tells you it is he/she/it
• El president parla is completely natural without ell

You could add ell for emphasis or contrast, but normally it is unnecessary.

Yes. In Catalan, the simple present often covers both ideas, depending on context.

So parla can mean:

• speaks
• is speaking
• sometimes talks

If you want to stress that the action is happening right now, Catalan can also use està parlant, but the simple present is very common.

Amb means with.

The expression parlar amb means:

• to speak with
• to talk with
• to talk to

So:

• parlar amb l'agent = to speak with the agent

This is the normal preposition after parlar when you mean speaking to someone.

Because Catalan usually shortens el or la to l' before a vowel sound.

Since agent begins with a vowel, you get:

• l'agent

This apostrophe is very common in Catalan:

• l'home
• l'amiga
• l'agent

So l'agent simply means the agent.

Not by itself.

Because both el and la become l' before a vowel, l'agent could refer to:

• a male agent
• a female agent

You usually find out from context, or from other words that agree with it:

• l'agent cansat = the tired male agent
• l'agent cansada = the tired female agent

So the apostrophe hides the gender here.

It can be either, depending on the person being referred to.

Some Catalan nouns have the same form for masculine and feminine. Agent is one of them in many contexts. The article or adjective normally shows the gender, but here the article is reduced to l', so you cannot see it.

That means l'agent is grammatically possible for either gender.

Yes, but Catalan is somewhat flexible.

The normal, neutral order is:

• El president parla amb l'agent.

This is:

• subject: El president
• verb: parla
• prepositional phrase: amb l'agent

Catalan can change the order for emphasis, but this sentence uses the most standard and natural order for an everyday statement.

Because here president is being used as a common noun, not as part of a proper name.

So Catalan writes:

• El president parla...

Just as English usually writes:

• The president is speaking...

It would only be capitalized if it were part of a title or heading, or at the beginning of the sentence, as it is here because El is the first word.