Ordinal and cardinal numbers - differences between French and English usages

Salut, Claudia!

The verb used here is protéger (to protect). That's the infinitive form, still ending in -er.  In that sentence, protéger is used in the passé simple (another past tense besides passé composé which is used more for literature, scientific text, history; this is not a conversational tense but something used for writing). The meaning, because it's in the past, is François the 1st protected Leonardo da Vinci.

Hope that helps! Passé simple isn't something you'd encounter in conversation, so I hope that all makes sense!

Merci 

Hi Bill,

If you look at my answer to Robin, it might clarify things for you....

Hi Robin,

In the case of one third , meaning 33.33% (1/3) of something, the word tiers is 'un mot invariable' and doesn't agree with the noun it applies to(or the person speaking)

e.g. 

Un tiers des électeurs ne s'est pas déplacé pour voter = One third of the electorate didn't go and vote

Un tiers de la famille a été décimé par les inondations = One third of the family was decimated by the floods

Un tiers de la foule était composé de femmes = A third of the crowd was made up of women

Hope this helps!

Hi Robin,

The adjective 'tiers/tierce' will only be used in certain expressions like 'tierce personne' or 'tierce partie' to mean a third party -

Also in the following expressions -

Le tiers-monde = The third World

Le Tiers-état = The third estate/tier of society 

The noun 'tierce' is used in some card games to denote three cards following each other.

It has very limited use...

Hope this helps!

If you're saying that most of the time tiers does not agree in gender, I think that should be added to the main lesson. The way it is currently worded - "You use tiers (masculine) or tierce (feminine)" - with no additional follow-up information, suggests that it does agree in gender. If I hadn't read this comment I would have basically just learnt it completely wrong.

Hi David,

I'm sure you're right that the "third" in "Third World" refers to an order rather than a fraction.

I think the reason that "tiers" is used is probably historical. Although "Third World" is a relatively recent term it was coined from the much older expression "Third Estate" - "le tiers-état".

I imagine at the time when that term was created the language was rather different and "tiers" could be used to mean 3rd in sequence.

Thank you Alan for this excellent answer.

I was discussing this question posed by David with some French people yesterday as I have to admit I had never asked myself since in my mind it only designates a status and I learnt that there is another term 'le quart-monde'.

After a bit of research it appears that 'le quart-monde' was coined in 1969 to designate people under the threshold of poverty. It is wonderful to learn something new. If you are interested, take a peak at:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quart-monde

all in French I am afraid but good practice.

Bonjour Paul !

The expression is une tierce personne as in a third party in English. It's usually used in a legal context for example.

I cannot really think of other cases when we use tierce, as tiers is the one you used when expressing a fraction, hence in most cases:
un tiers, deux tiers...
Un tiers du monde    -> a third of the world

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !