Paul finit sixième.

Here, finit is the 3rd person singular present of finir.

So Paul finit sixième literally means something like Paul finishes sixth or Paul comes in sixth.

In this kind of sentence, finir often means to finish in a certain position in a race, competition, ranking, etc.

Because French uses an ordinal number here, not a cardinal number.

• six = six
• sixième = sixth

When you talk about someone’s position in a ranking, race, or competition, you use the ordinal:

• Paul finit sixième = Paul finishes sixth

Using six would not express the idea of 6th place.

In French, after verbs like finir, arriver, or similar verbs of placing/ranking, the position usually comes after the verb:

• Il finit premier.
• Elle arrive deuxième.
• Paul finit sixième.

This is normal French word order. English does the same in many cases:

• Paul finished sixth.

So this part is actually quite similar to English.

Because in this structure, French normally does not use an article.

You say:

• Paul finit sixième
• Elle arrive première

not usually:

• Paul finit le sixième ❌

That would sound wrong here.

The ordinal is being used to show the result or placing directly, almost like first, second, third, etc. in English:

• He finished sixth

not:

• He finished the sixth

Yes. Sixième is an ordinal adjective.

It describes Paul’s position or rank. In a sentence like this, it works a bit like a predicate adjective after the verb:

• Paul finit sixième = Paul ends up sixth / in sixth place

It agrees with the person or thing it refers to. In this sentence, it refers to Paul.

One small detail: sixième has the same form in masculine and feminine singular, so you would also say:

• Marie finit sixième

But in the plural, you would see agreement more clearly:

• Ils finissent sixièmes
• Elles finissent sixièmes

Finit is present tense.

It can mean:

• a general statement: Paul finishes sixth
• a sports-commentary or historical-present style statement
• sometimes something that English might translate differently depending on context

If you want the most straightforward past tense, you would usually say:

• Paul a fini sixième = Paul finished sixth

So:

• finit = present
• a fini = past

Yes, absolutely.

That is often the most natural way to say Paul finished sixth when talking about a completed event in the past.

Compare:

• Paul finit sixième = Paul finishes sixth / sometimes used in narration or commentary
• Paul a fini sixième = Paul finished sixth

So the original sentence is grammatically correct, but the best English translation depends on context.

Yes. In French, finir can mean both:

1. to finish / to end
2. to finish in a certain position

Examples:

• Le film finit à minuit. = The film ends at midnight.
• Paul finit sixième. = Paul finishes sixth.

So in this sentence, finir is not just about stopping; it means to end up in sixth place.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Paul ≈ Pol
• finit ≈ fee-NEE
• sixième ≈ see-ZYEM

A more precise IPA version is:

• Paul finit sixième → /pɔl fini sizjɛm/

A couple of useful points:

• The t in finit is not pronounced.
• In sixième, six is pronounced siz- because it is linked to the following sound.
• The stress in French is much less strong than in English; the rhythm is smoother.

Yes. Sixième simply means sixth, so it can be used in many contexts:

• la sixième page = the sixth page
• le sixième chapitre = the sixth chapter
• Paul est sixième = Paul is sixth
• Paul finit sixième = Paul finishes sixth

In your sentence, the context tells us it is about ranking or placement.

Not exactly, though they are related.

• Paul est sixième = Paul is sixth
  This describes his current position or rank.

• Paul finit sixième = Paul finishes sixth
  This focuses on the result at the end of an event.

So est describes a state, while finit describes the outcome of finishing.