If I protect my tweets on Twitter, can other people still see what I post?

[Dragonus]

I am new to Twitter and was having a problem with people following me who I didn't want and was told I had to change my options to protect my tweets in order to be able to accept or deny followers.
My question, though, is if I do this, does it just change being able to accept or deny followers, or does it mean that only my followers can see what I post? If it does stop others from seeing what I tweet, is there a different way to accept or deny followers (aside from blocking them after they start following me)?
That's what I thought. Screw it. I'll just block people I don't want following me so I can leave tweets open to all. Hard to get followers if people can't see what you tweet.

[jojo2grimey]

No. Only if you accept their request to follow you.

[Caitlin]

Only the people who you approve of their follow request can see your tweets. Protecting your account means that no one can retweet your tweets (Only way is this RT @username [the tweet you want to retweet])

Also, on a protected twitter account, if you tweet to people that DON'T follow you, can't see your tweets.
Example: @personthatdoesntfollowyou Hi, wanna have dinner tonight?