Learn French: Elle est chirurgienne.

Elle est chirurgienne.

She is a surgeon.

Breakdown of Elle est chirurgienne.

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Questions & Answers about Elle est chirurgienne.

Why is there no word for 'a' (like une) before chirurgienne?

In French, when you state someone's profession directly using Il est or Elle est, the profession acts like an adjective, so you drop the article (un or une). If you wanted to add an adjective (like 'a brilliant surgeon'), you would have to change the structure to C'est une chirurgienne brillante.

Could I say C'est une chirurgienne just to mean 'She is a surgeon'?

You can, but it sounds less natural than Elle est chirurgienne when you just want to state her job title. C'est une... is typically used when you are identifying who someone is (like pointing them out in a room) or when you add a modifying adjective to the noun.

I thought some medical professions were always masculine. Is chirurgienne a new word?

Historically, yes! High-status professions like chirurgien (surgeon) or auteur (author) only had masculine forms for a long time. While you might still occasionally see Elle est chirurgien in older texts, modern French heavily promotes feminized forms like chirurgienne, and it is now the standard.

How does the pronunciation change between the masculine chirurgien and the feminine chirurgienne?