Hablé con ese muchacho.

Hablé is the first-person singular form of hablar in the pretérito indefinido (the simple past in Spain-style terminology).

So hablé means I spoke or I talked.

In this sentence, Hablé con ese muchacho, the subject is understood as I, because Spanish often leaves subject pronouns out when the verb already makes the person clear.

The accent mark in hablé is important because it shows both pronunciation and meaning.

• hablé = I spoke / I talked
• hable = that I speak / speak! (subjunctive or formal command, depending on context)

The written accent helps distinguish these forms.

It also shows that the stress falls on the last syllable: ha-BLÉ.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

ah-BLEH kon EH-seh moo-CHA-cho

A few key points:

• H in Spanish is silent, so hablé does not begin with an English h sound.
• bl in hablé is pronounced smoothly together.
• ese sounds like EH-seh.
• muchacho is pronounced moo-CHA-cho.
• In Spain, ch sounds like English ch in chat.

Because Spanish often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb hablé already tells you the subject is I, so yo is unnecessary in most situations.

• Hablé con ese muchacho. = normal
• Yo hablé con ese muchacho. = still correct, but yo adds emphasis or contrast

For example, yo might be used if you want to stress that I was the one who spoke to him.

Con means with, and with hablar, it is commonly used to mean to talk with or to speak with someone.

So:

• Hablé con ese muchacho = I spoke with that boy / young man

Spanish can also use hablar a in some contexts, especially when the idea is more speaking to someone rather than having a two-way conversation. But hablar con is extremely common and natural when you mean you talked with someone.

These words all point to something or someone, but from different perspectives:

• este = this (near the speaker)
• ese = that (near the listener or not especially close to the speaker)
• aquel = that over there (far from both)

So ese muchacho means that boy / that young man.

A learner should think of ese as the normal word for that in many everyday situations.

Muchacho usually means boy, lad, or sometimes young man, depending on context.

It is similar to chico, but not always identical in tone or regional use.

In Spain:

• chico is very common for boy or guy
• muchacho is also understood and natural, but can sound a bit more literary, descriptive, or traditional depending on context

So ese muchacho could be translated as:

• that boy
• that lad
• that young man

The best translation depends on the situation and the age of the person being described.

Because muchacho is not the direct object of the verb here.

The personal a is used before a direct object that is a specific person:

• Vi a ese muchacho. = I saw that boy.

But in Hablé con ese muchacho, the phrase con ese muchacho is a prepositional phrase introduced by con, so there is no personal a.

Yes, you could, but the meaning and usage are slightly different.

• Hablé con ese muchacho = I spoke with that boy / I talked to that boy
• He hablado con ese muchacho = I have spoken with that boy

In Spain, both forms are used, but there is an important tendency:

• he hablado is often used for actions connected to the current time period, especially today
• hablé is often used for a finished action in the past

For example, in Spain:

• Hoy he hablado con ese muchacho. = Today I’ve spoken with that boy.
• Ayer hablé con ese muchacho. = Yesterday I spoke with that boy.

This is a very common question.

• hablé = simple past, completed action
• hablaba = imperfect, ongoing/habitual/background action in the past

So:

• Hablé con ese muchacho. = I spoke with that boy.
  This sounds like a completed event.

• Hablaba con ese muchacho. = I was talking to that boy / I used to talk to that boy.
  This could describe an ongoing action or a repeated past habit.

The choice depends on how you view the past action.

It is mostly neutral.

Nothing in Hablé con ese muchacho is especially slangy or especially formal. It would fit normal spoken or written Spanish.

That said:

• muchacho can feel a little more descriptive than chico
• the sentence itself is perfectly standard

So it is a natural, everyday sentence.

Yes, but the original order is the most straightforward.

Standard order:

• Hablé con ese muchacho.

You might also hear variations for emphasis, such as:

• Con ese muchacho hablé.

This sounds more marked, because it emphasizes with that boy.

For most learners, the normal word order is the best choice unless you are deliberately adding emphasis.

Yes. By itself, Hablé con ese muchacho does not tell you how long the conversation lasted.

It simply tells you that the speaking event happened.

It could mean:

• a quick exchange
• a proper conversation
• a serious discussion

If you want to show duration or manner, Spanish would normally add more information, for example:

• Hablé un momento con ese muchacho. = I spoke with that boy for a moment.
• Hablé largo rato con ese muchacho. = I talked with that boy for a long time.