Why do I need to know panne?
This is a handy word to know in case of problems, but you have also seen it in the news recently after a telephone maintenance glitch lead to France’s emergency services numbers becoming uncontactable.
Panne des numéros d'urgence : retrouvez la liste des lignes alternatives pour joindre les secourshttps://t.co/H2WVKbSJyZ pic.twitter.com/Wk9J7nmDqv
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) June 3, 2021
What does it mean?
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See also on The Local:
Une panne means a breakdown, while en panne means broken down or out of order – you may have seen it scribbled onto a piece of paper and stuck onto an out of order lift or left on the windscreen of a broken down car.
The word was first recorded in France in the 1700s, and initially meant ‘soft, velvet-like cloth’, likely meaning it was a broken down material as opposed to a harder material.
These days, the word can be used in a variety of forms to express a breakdown, a temporary lack of something, an interruption or a halt or in a more metaphorical sense to indicate that you have let someone down.
Use it like this
En panne – Out of order/broken
Tomber en panne – Broken down (used if your car has broken down)
Panne sèche – Out of gas
Laisser quelqu’un en panne – To let someone down
Nous sommes tombés en panne d’essence ! – We’ve run out of petrol!
Synonyms
Hors service – out of service or out of order, frequently shortened to HS (pronounced ashesse)
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