>It's the same in English- the indefinite article a becomes an before a word starting with a vowel.
>
> For u it depends how it is pronounced - I think
>
>A U-Turn
>An unrelated matter

On a related note, same goes for words beginning with an aitch - "an honorable exception".

Btw, a question for the anglophone majority here: is there a word in English which begins with a "u" and has it pronounced as u? Not as uh as in under, not as yoo as in universe, but as u as in butcher, lubricate?