La señora habló con el señor.

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English does. In this sentence, la señora and el señor are the natural way to say the lady / the woman and the gentleman / the man.

With nouns like señora and señor, Spanish normally needs an article unless there is some other determiner or a name attached in a different structure.

So:

• la señora = the lady / the woman
• el señor = the gentleman / the man

Leaving out la or el here would usually sound incomplete.

They are polite words for adults:

• señor = Mr., sir, or sometimes gentleman / man
• señora = Mrs., ma’am, or sometimes lady / woman

In this sentence, because they are used with la and el and no names follow, they sound more like the lady and the gentleman.

Depending on context, señora can simply mean an adult woman in a respectful way, not only a married woman.

Habló is the third-person singular preterite form of hablar.

It matches la señora, which is she grammatically:

• yo hablé = I spoke
• tú hablaste = you spoke
• él/ella/usted habló = he/she/you-formal spoke

So La señora habló means the lady spoke.

The preterite is used because the action is seen as a completed event.

The accent mark shows both pronunciation and meaning.

• hablo = I speak / I am speaking
• habló = he/she/you-formal spoke

Without the accent, it would be a different verb form.

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

No. In standard Spanish, h is silent.

So habló is pronounced roughly like a-BLÓ, not with an English h sound.

This is true in most Spanish words with h:

• hola
• hacer
• hablar

The h is written, but not pronounced.

The ñ is a separate letter in Spanish. It is not the same as n.

It sounds roughly like ny in canyon, but as one smooth sound.

So:

• señor sounds roughly like sen-YOR
• señora sounds roughly like sen-YO-ra

The stress is:

• se-ÑOR
• se-ÑO-ra

The mark on ñ is not a stress accent. It shows that the letter is ñ, not n.

Because con means with, and the sentence says that the lady spoke with the gentleman.

• hablar con alguien = to speak/talk with someone

This usually suggests an interaction or conversation.

You can also sometimes see hablar a alguien, which is more like to speak to someone, but hablar con is very common when two people are in communication.

So habló con el señor is the most natural choice for spoke with the gentleman.

Because Spanish only has two standard contractions with el:

• a + el = al
• de + el = del

But:

• con el stays con el
• por el stays por el
• para el stays para el

So con el señor is correct, and there is no contraction here.

Because el here is the definite article, meaning the.

• el = the
• él = he

In this sentence, el señor means the gentleman, so it must be el without an accent.

Compare:

• el señor = the gentleman
• él habló = he spoke

In Spanish, titles like señor, señora, and señorita are usually written in lowercase in normal sentences.

So this is standard:

• La señora habló con el señor.

Spanish does not capitalize them just because they are polite titles.

You may see capitalization in special cases, such as headings, formal documents, or abbreviations like:

• Sr.
• Sra.

But in an ordinary sentence, lowercase is normal.

Yes, Spanish word order is more flexible than English word order.

The most neutral order here is:

• La señora habló con el señor.

But other orders are possible for emphasis or style, for example:

• Con el señor habló la señora.

That version is grammatical, but it sounds more marked or literary. It gives special focus to con el señor.

For a learner, the original sentence is the safest and most natural pattern.

This is a very common question.

• habló = spoke; a completed action
• hablaba = was speaking / used to speak; ongoing, habitual, or background action

So:

• La señora habló con el señor.
  The conversation is presented as a completed event.

• La señora hablaba con el señor cuando llegué.
  The lady was speaking with the gentleman when I arrived.

In short, habló moves the story forward as a finished action, while hablaba often describes what was already happening.