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Il finit le chef-d'œuvre, et nous en sommes fiers.

Il finit le chef-d'œuvre, et nous en sommes fiers.
He is finishing the masterpiece, and we are proud of it.
From Lesson 293:Emotions about the past (je suis content que)·French

Questions & Answers about Il finit le chef-d'œuvre, et nous en sommes fiers.

We are expressing an emotion here (être fier). Why isn't the subjunctive used?
The subjunctive requires a dependent clause starting with que. Here, we just have two independent clauses joined by et (and). If you wanted to combine them into a single sentence focusing on anteriority (that he already finished it), you would use the subjunctive past from your current lesson: Nous sommes fiers qu'il ait fini le chef-d'œuvre (We are proud that he finished the masterpiece).
Why do we use the pronoun en here instead of le?
The pronoun en is used to replace phrases starting with de. Because the French expression is être fier de (to be proud of), saying "proud of it" means replacing the implied de cela with en. Like most object pronouns, it is placed directly before the conjugated verb: nous en sommes fiers.
Chef-d'œuvre is a compound noun. How do we make it plural?
To make it plural, you only add an s to the main noun: des chefs-d'œuvre. The d'œuvre part acts as a descriptive modifier (literally "of work") and never changes.
Could Il finit also translate to "He finished" in the past tense?
Yes! For regular -ir verbs like finir, the il/elle/on form is identical in the present tense (il finit) and the literary past tense, the passé simple (il finit). We only know it means "is finishing" here because of the provided English context.

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