La ley protege a todos.

La ley means the law.

• Ley is a feminine singular noun
• Because it is feminine singular, it takes the article la
• So:
  • el libro = the book
  • la ley = the law

You need la here because Spanish normally uses a definite article with nouns like this when speaking generally.

Protege is the third-person singular present tense of proteger (to protect).

It matches la ley, which is treated as it in English:

• yo protejo = I protect
• tú proteges = you protect
• él/ella protege = he/she protects
• la ley protege = the law protects

So protege means protects here.

This is the personal a.

In Spanish, when the direct object is a person or people, you usually put a before it.

Here, todos refers to all people / everyone, so Spanish uses a:

• La ley protege a todos = The law protects everyone

Compare:

• Veo la casa = I see the house
• Veo a María = I see María

Since todos means people here, a is needed.

Here, todos means everyone, all people, or all of us/all of them depending on context.

Literally, todos is all in the masculine plural form, but in Spanish the masculine plural is also used for:

• mixed groups
• groups of unknown gender
• people in general

So in this sentence, a todos is a natural way to say everyone.

Todos is used because it can refer to:

• a mixed group of people
• people in general
• a group whose gender is not specified

If you were talking specifically about a group of females, you could say a todas:

• La ley protege a todas = The law protects all of them / all women / all the girls

But in a general statement like this, a todos is the usual form.

No, that would sound wrong in standard Spanish.

Because todos refers to people, the personal a is required:

• correct: La ley protege a todos
• incorrect: La ley protege todos

If the object were a thing, there would be no personal a:

• La ley protege los derechos = The law protects rights

Here it works as a pronoun.

That is because it stands on its own and means everyone / all people.

Compare:

• todos los ciudadanos = all the citizens
  
  • here todos is an adjective/determiner modifying ciudadanos
• a todos = everyone / all of them
  
  • here todos is a pronoun

So in La ley protege a todos, it is not directly attached to a noun, so it is functioning as a pronoun.

This is the normal, neutral word order in Spanish:

• La ley = subject
• protege = verb
• a todos = direct object

So it follows a basic subject + verb + object pattern.

Spanish can change word order for emphasis, but this sentence is the most natural and straightforward version.

In Spain, protege is pronounced approximately:

pro-TE-he

More exactly, the g before e sounds like the strong Spanish sound heard in gente or general.

A rough guide:

• pro = pro
• te = TEH
• ge = a throaty he

The stress is on the middle syllable: pro-TE-ge.

It is the present tense, and here it expresses a general truth or general principle.

So La ley protege a todos means something like:

• the law protects everyone
• the law is supposed to protect everyone
• the law protects all people

Spanish present tense is often used for general statements like this, just as in English.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• La ley = the subject
• protege = the verb
• a todos = the direct object

So the structure is:

Subject + Verb + Direct Object

More literally:

• La ley = the law
• protege = protects
• a todos = everyone / all people

This is a very useful basic pattern in Spanish.