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Il presidente parla con i giornalisti.

Il presidente parla con i giornalisti.
The president speaks with the journalists.
From Lesson 175:Topic pronoun (ne)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il presidente parla con i giornalisti.

Could I use ne here to shorten the sentence to "The president speaks with them"?
No, you can't use ne here. The pronoun ne replaces phrases starting with di (of/about/some). Because this sentence uses con (with), you must use con loro to say "with them." If the sentence were "speaks about them" (parla di loro), then you could shorten it to ne parla.
Why is the plural i giornalisti if the singular word is il giornalista?
Words ending in -ista (like giornalista or turista) are tricky! In the singular, they end in -a for both men and women (il giornalista, la giornalista). However, in the plural, they split: masculine or mixed groups become -isti (i giornalisti) and all-female groups become -iste (le giornaliste).
How would you say "The female president"? Does the ending of presidente change?
The noun presidente stays exactly the same, but the article changes to match the gender. For a female president, you would simply say la presidente. Many nouns ending in -ente work this way.
Could I use dice (says) instead of parla (speaks) in this sentence?
Not with this structure. Parlare (to speak/talk) works perfectly when describing the general act of conversing with someone (con i giornalisti). Dire (to say/tell) requires you to state what is being said. You can say "He tells the truth to the journalists" (dice la verità ai giornalisti), but you can't just say "He says with the journalists."

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