Learn French: C'est un chirurgien réputé.

C'est un chirurgien réputé.

He is a renowned surgeon.

Breakdown of C'est un chirurgien réputé.

Questions & Answers about C'est un chirurgien réputé.

Why do we use C'est un instead of Il est to say "He is a..." here?

This is the core rule for modified professions! If you just state someone's job, you use Il est without an article: Il est chirurgien. However, because the noun is modified by the adjective réputé, you must switch the structure to C'est un(e) + noun + adjective.

Would it be grammatically correct to say Il est un chirurgien réputé?

No, that would sound unnatural to a French speaker. When talking about a person's profession or nationality, Il/Elle est cannot be followed by an article like un or une. The moment you introduce an article (which happens because you added an adjective), you must use C'est.

If we were talking about a female surgeon, how would the sentence change?

You would need to make the article, the noun, and the adjective feminine. The sentence would become C'est une chirurgienne réputée. Notice the doubled 'n' in chirurgienne and the added 'e' at the end of réputée.

Could I place the adjective before the noun, like un réputé chirurgien?

No, réputé must come after the noun. In French, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify. Only a specific group of short, common adjectives (often remembered by the BANGS acronym: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size) generally go before the noun.