Learn Hardcore French: L'ingénieure parle avec les étudiants dans le laboratoire. - The engineer talks with the students in the laboratory.

la
- ingénieure → l'ingénieure
The apostrophe ' shows that a letter was removed.
This happens with le, la, je, me, te, se, de, ne, que, etc., before a vowel:
- le ami → l'ami
- je aime → j'aime

So La ingénieure is simply not allowed; it must be L'ingénieure.

Why does ingénieure end in -e? Is that always the feminine form?

Yes. Ingénieure with -e at the end is the feminine form of the noun; ingénieur (without -e) is the masculine form.

un ingénieur = a (male) engineer
une ingénieure = a (female) engineer

Adding a final -e is a very common way to mark the feminine form of professions and other nouns that refer to people:

un étudiant / une étudiante
un employé / une employée
un ami / une amie

So here, the sentence is explicitly talking about a female engineer.

How do you say “a male engineer” and “a female engineer” in French?

a male engineer → un ingénieur
a female engineer → une ingénieure

The noun changes (with or without -e), and the article changes (un vs une) to match the grammatical gender.

Do ingénieur and ingénieure sound different when spoken?

Often they sound almost the same in everyday speech.

ingénieur → ends with a sound like -eur [œʁ]
ingénieure → also pronounced [ɛ̃.ʒe.njœʁ] in most accents

The extra written -e at the end of ingénieure usually does not add an extra sound. So native speakers rely on the article (un/une, le/la) and the context to know the gender.

Why is it parle and not parles or parlent?

Because the subject is L'ingénieure, which is third person singular (she).

The verb parler (to speak) in the present tense:

je parle – I speak
tu parles – you speak (singular, informal)
il/elle/on parle – he/she/one speaks
nous parlons – we speak
vous parlez – you speak (plural / formal)
ils/elles parlent – they speak

Here we have elle implied by L'ingénieure, so we must use parle.

Why is it parler avec here? Could we say parler à instead?

Both parler avec and parler à can be correct, but they emphasize slightly different things:

parler à quelqu’un = to speak to someone (focus on the person you address)
- L'ingénieure parle aux étudiants. – The engineer is talking to the students.
parler avec quelqu’un = to speak with someone (more mutual, like a conversation)
- L'ingénieure parle avec les étudiants. – The engineer is talking with the students / having a conversation with them.

In many situations, both are possible; avec often feels more like “having a discussion together.”

Why is it les étudiants and not des étudiants?

les étudiants = the students (a specific group that speaker and listener can identify)
des étudiants = some students (an unspecified group)

So:

L'ingénieure parle avec les étudiants.
→ She is talking with the students (for example, the students in her class).
L'ingénieure parle avec des étudiants.
→ She is talking with some students (we don’t know which ones; it’s not a specific known group).

In your sentence, les étudiants suggests a particular set of students, probably the ones belonging to that lab or course.

How do we know étudiants is masculine plural? What about female students?

The form étudiants (with -s) is masculine plural.

un étudiant = a male student
une étudiante = a female student
des étudiants = male students / mixed group
des étudiantes = all-female group of students

Important point: if the group is mixed (at least one male), French grammar uses the masculine plural:

les étudiants can mean:
- a group of male students, or
- a mixed group of male and female students

Only an all-female group uses les étudiantes.

Why is it dans le laboratoire and not au laboratoire?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different feelings:

dans le laboratoire = inside the laboratory (physically in that space)
- Focus on inside the room/space.
au laboratoire = at the lab / to the lab
- Can mean at that place in a more general way; often used with workplaces:
  - Je travaille au laboratoire. – I work at the lab.

In your sentence, dans le laboratoire highlights that the conversation is taking place inside the laboratory room.

Could we move dans le laboratoire earlier in the sentence, like in English?

Yes, you can change the order a bit in French, but some versions sound more natural than others. All of these are grammatical:

L'ingénieure parle avec les étudiants dans le laboratoire.
Dans le laboratoire, l'ingénieure parle avec les étudiants.

The second version (Dans le laboratoire, ...) puts extra emphasis on the location. French generally keeps:

subject → verb → rest of the sentence

But short location/time phrases, especially with a comma, can be moved to the beginning for emphasis.

Why is it le laboratoire and not la laboratoire?

Because laboratoire is a masculine noun in French:

un laboratoire – a laboratory
le laboratoire – the laboratory

There is no logical reason tied to meaning; grammatical gender is just part of each noun’s dictionary form, and it must be memorized. When you learn a noun in French, learn it with its article:

un laboratoire (masc.)
une voiture (fem.)
un ordinateur (masc.), etc.

Is there a more casual way to say laboratoire, like “lab” in English?

Yes. In informal French, people often say le labo:

Je vais au labo. – I’m going to the lab.
Je travaille dans un labo de biologie. – I work in a biology lab.

But in a neutral or formal sentence (like in writing, textbooks, or news), laboratoire is preferred. Your sentence is in that more neutral style.

Are there any liaisons (linking sounds) in the phrase avec les étudiants?

Yes, there is a common liaison:

avec ends in a consonant sound [k]
les starts with a vowel sound [le]

In fluent speech, you normally pronounce:

avec‿les étudiants → you clearly hear the k linked to les

There is no obligatory liaison between les and étudiants because étudiants begins with a vowel but s of les is normally silent in that position. You may hear a light linking, but the important, clear liaison is avec‿les.