Can I talk to someone I want to marry before the nikah, in person or online?

Yes, within limits: Islam legislates a serious, family-known process, and the Prophet ﷺ told al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, who had proposed to a woman, "Look at her, for it is more likely to create lasting affection between you" (Sunan at-Tirmidhī 1087, ḥasan). So looking at her and asking the questions you need in order to judge dīn, character and compatibility is permitted — with her walī informed and involved from the start. What is not permitted is what people call "halal dating": being alone together in person or in a private chat, flirting, romantic or affectionate talk, and open-ended "getting to know each other" for months with no proposal — the Prophet ﷺ said no man is to be alone with a woman except that a mahram is with her (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5233; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1341), Allah commands the believing men and women to lower their gaze, and He instructed the wives of the Prophet ﷺ — a standard the scholars extend to believing women generally — not to be soft and alluring in speech. Practically: keep the conversation purposeful, in the presence or full knowledge of her family, lower the gaze, and shorten the gap between the decision and the contract.

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