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Il est un homme.

Il est un homme.
He is a man.
From Lesson 2:Indefinite articles (un, une)·French

Questions & Answers about Il est un homme.

Why do we use un here instead of une?
In French, all nouns have a gender (masculine or feminine). The word for man, homme, is masculine, so it takes the masculine word for "a" or "an", which is un. If we were talking about a woman (femme), we would use the feminine word une.
Why does un homme sound like "uh-nom" when spoken?
The letter "h" at the beginning of homme is silent. Because un ends in a consonant and the next spoken sound is a vowel (the "o" in homme), the words link together. This linking is called a liaison. You pronounce the "n" from un right into the start of homme.
Does un mean "a" or the number "one"?
It means both! In French, un (masculine) and une (feminine) act as the words "a" or "an", but they are also the number "one". Here it translates best to "a man", but it could also mean "one man" if you were counting.
I have seen people say C'est un homme to mean "He is a man". Which one is right?
In everyday French, you will actually hear C'est un homme much more often. French speakers generally use C'est (it is / he is) instead of Il est when there is a word like un or une in front of the noun. However, Il est un homme is used here to help you practice the basic il est (he is) structure for this level.

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