Why do I need to know déconfiner?
Because over the last year it’s become rather a big deal.
What does it mean?
Déconfiner comes from the verb se déconfiner, which refers to sortir d’une situation de confinement – ‘exiting a confinement situation’.
It’s the negative of confiner – to impose a confinement or lockdown.
Therefore the day we begin to nous déconfiner is le déconfinement – the lifting of lockdown restrictions including bar closures and curfew.
Noun vs. verb
Se déconfiner is a verb and déconfinement a noun.
You can use both, but in different ways.
Nous attendons avec impatience le jour où nous commençons de se déconfiner – We’re all keenly awaiting the day where we begin to unwind the lockdown.
Le déconfinement débute en mai – the lifting of lockdown begins in May
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See also on The Local:
And there is now a third option to add to confinement and déconfinement, but we hope that we will never have to use again – reconfinement.
Logically, this is when a country goes back into lockdown and one we hope we can retire in 2022.
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