La sauvegarde protège la photothèque.

Because sauvegarde and photothèque are both feminine singular nouns in French.

• la sauvegarde = the backup / the protection / the safeguard, depending on context
• la photothèque = the photo library

In French, nouns have grammatical gender, so you usually have to learn each noun together with its article:

• la sauvegarde
• la photothèque

In tech language, sauvegarde usually means backup.

So La sauvegarde protège la photothèque means that the backup protects the photo library.

A useful distinction:

• sauvegarde = backup
• enregistrer / sauvegarder can refer to saving something

In computing, sauvegarde often suggests making a copy for safety, not just clicking Save.

Protège is the third-person singular present form of the verb protéger.

So:

• je protège = I protect
• tu protèges = you protect
• il / elle / on protège = he / she / one protects

In this sentence, the subject is La sauvegarde, which is singular, so the verb must also be singular:

• La sauvegarde protège ...

Because of French spelling rules for verbs like protéger.

The infinitive is protéger, but in forms where the e in the next syllable would otherwise become too weak, French often changes é to è to keep the right pronunciation:

• protéger
• je protège
• tu protèges
• il protège

But:

• nous protégeons
• vous protégez

So the accent changes to reflect pronunciation.

Literally, photothèque is a place or collection of photos.

It is built like:

• photo = photo
• -thèque = collection, library, archive

You may recognize the same ending in:

• bibliothèque = library
• médiathèque = media library

In modern tech context, photothèque is often best translated as photo library.

Yes. This sentence follows the very common French pattern:

subject + verb + object

• La sauvegarde = subject
• protège = verb
• la photothèque = direct object

So it matches English very closely:

• The backup protects the photo library.

Using la makes the sentence sound more general or more specific depending on context.

Here, La sauvegarde protège la photothèque can be understood as a general statement, almost like:

• Backup protects the photo library
• The backup protects the photo library

French often uses the definite article where English might use the, or even a more general bare noun.

If you said Une sauvegarde protège la photothèque, that would sound more like:

• A backup protects the photo library which can feel a bit less natural if you are stating a general principle.

A simple approximation is:

la so-vuh-gard pro-tezh la fo-to-tek

A slightly more careful breakdown:

• La → la
• sauvegarde → so-vuh-gard
• protège → pro-tezh
• la → la
• photothèque → fo-to-tek

A few pronunciation notes:

• The g in sauvegarde is a hard g sound.
• protège ends with the sound zh as in measure.
• The final -que in photothèque sounds like k.

The accents help show pronunciation.

• è in protège tells you the vowel is more open, like eh
• ê in photothèque also affects pronunciation and often reflects historical spelling

So the accents are not optional decoration. They are part of the correct spelling and often help distinguish how a word should sound.

Yes, depending on context.

Possible alternatives include:

• les photos = the photos
• la bibliothèque de photos = the photo library
• la galerie = the gallery

But photothèque is a perfectly valid word, especially in software, media, or archive-related contexts. It often sounds a little more formal or technical than simply saying les photos.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Sauvegarde can refer to:

• the backup copy
• the backup process
• more broadly, protection or safeguarding

In a tech sentence like this one, it most likely means the backup system or backup copy that keeps the photo library safe.

French often allows this kind of flexibility, so context tells you which nuance is intended.