protegió

Protegió is a verb form in Spanish, functioning as the third-person singular preterite of proteger. It means “he protected,” “she protected,” or, in a formal context, “you protected” (usted protegió). The form is used to describe a completed action of protecting in the past, typically within narratives or past-tense descriptions.

Etymology and morphology: proteger comes from Latin protegere, with pro- “in front” and tegere “to cover or protect.” In the preterite, the stem is proteg- and the ending -ió marks the third-person singular past tense. The past participle of proteger is protegido, and related forms include protejo (present), protegemos (present), and protegieron (third-person plural preterite).

Usage and examples: Protéigose uses protegió with a direct object, such as a person or thing being defended. Examples include: El bombero protegió a las víctimas del incendio. La ley protegió sus derechos. In narratives, this form signals a completed act of shielding or defending in the past. It can also appear with indirect objects or prepositional phrases to specify who was protected or what was protected.

Orthography and related forms: The verb follows the regular preterite pattern for -er verbs in the third-person singular form, including the accent in protegió to indicate stress on the final syllable. Commonly confused forms include protege (present) and protegía (imperfect). The word is closely related to protected/protection terms like protección, but different grammatically and semantically.