Is French different? Il est un médecin? Il est médecin? Ils sont médecins sounds fine.

Nope, it's basically as in spanish:

> Il est un médecin?

Nope that's bogus french: you say "il est médecin". But you can say: "c'est un médecin".

	▲	makeitdouble 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> That's bogus To expand a bit, it's a perfectly valid use, but most people will forgo having an extra word that has no role in the phrase. "Il est médecin" and "Il est un médecin" are perfectly equivalent so people will choose the shorter. The "un" comes back when using the noun as an adjective isn't possible anymore, e.g. by adding an actual adjective "Il est un bon médecin"