un/œ̃/
determiner / pronoun / noun · A1 · Frequency 10
determinermasculine
Meanings
indicating the quantity 'one'
Used as an indefinite article to indicate one single noun, commonly used in a general sense.
Examples
Un enfant joue dans le jardin.
A child is playing in the garden.
J'ai acheté un billet pour le concert.
I bought one ticket for the concert.
Un collègue m'a envoyé le document hier.
A colleague sent me the document yesterday.
Collocations
- un livrea book
- un hommea man
- un chiena dog
Common mistakes
un amie
une amie
'amie' is feminine, so it requires the feminine indefinite article 'une', not 'un'.
Related words
pronounmasculine
Meanings
one; someone
Used as a pronoun to indicate the number one or to refer to someone in a general sense.
Examples
Un chat est entré dans la maison ce matin.
A cat entered the house this morning.
Il y a un qui attend dehors.
There is one waiting outside.
Collocations
- un hommea man
- un de mes amisone of my friends
- un est venuone came
Common mistakes
J'ai acheté un voiture.
J'ai acheté une voiture.
The lemma un is an indefinite masculine singular article, so it cannot be used before the feminine noun voiture; the feminine form une is required.
Related words
synonymquelqu’unsomeone
- antonymaucunnone
Grammar note
As an indefinite article, un is used only before singular masculine nouns. As a numeral, un represents the number one.
nounmasculine
Meanings
one (the number or figure)
Denotes the number 1, commonly used in counting and mathematics.
a; indefinite article
Indefinite article used before masculine singular nouns.
Examples
Dans cette série de nombres, un vient juste après zéro.
In this sequence of numbers, one comes right after zero.
Le un est facile à reconnaître grâce à son trait vertical.
The number one is easy to recognize by its vertical stroke.
Sur la feuille, un apparaît au centre du premier cercle.
On the sheet, the number one appears in the center of the first circle.
Collocations
- un contre unone-on-one
Related words
synonymunitéunit
- antonymzérozero