Nationwide Orange mobile network outage on 21 October: nearly ten hours, a faulty piece of equipment blamed

L’hypothèse d’une migration est celle de médias, pas une déclaration officielle d’Orange.

Être in the present is est for a singular subject and sont for a plural one. It describes nature, state or place (“is”, “is located”). If what follows (the attribute) is a noun, adjective or prepositional phrase, it is not a passive. If a past participle follows, it is a passive (est annoncé). Headlines and summaries often use the present to describe the current situation.

La panne a débuté en fin de matinée.

The passé composé is the most common past tense, used for “did” and “has done” — actions completed in the past. It is formed with the auxiliary avoir (a / ont…) in the present + a past participle. Past participles of -er verbs end in -é (annoncer → annoncé); learn the irregular ones (faire → fait, prendre → pris, voir → vu). In the negative, ne … pas wraps the auxiliary (n’a pas annoncé). In the news it reports facts that have already happened, such as “announced” or “voted”.

Appels, SMS et internet mobile étaient coupés.

The imparfait describes states, background, habits and actions in progress in the past (il était, elle avait, ils pensaient). Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons, and add -ais / -ais / -ait / -ions / -iez / -aient. If the passé composé gives “the event itself”, the imparfait paints “the situation at the time”.

Numerama évoque une bascule d’abonnés vers un nouveau cœur de réseau 5G, qui les aurait laissés sans connexion ni sur l’ancien ni sur le nouveau ; Orange ne confirme pas cette migration.

The conditional expresses possibility, supposition, unconfirmed information and polite requests (“would”, “might”). It uses the same stem as the future and the same endings as the imparfait (-ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient): pouvoir → il pourrait. In the news it is used to avoid asserting, as in “is reported to…” or “there is a possibility…”.

Le retour à la normale est intervenu peu après 21 h, après près de dix heures.

The passive means “is done” or “is being done”. It is formed with être + past participle, which agrees with the subject in gender and number (la mesure est adoptée / les mesures sont adoptées). The agent is introduced by par (or de). In the news it is common when the event, rather than the actor, is the focus (est prévu / est annoncé / est connu).

Du matin au soir le 21 octobre, le réseau mobile d’Orange a été perturbé.

The past passive means “was done”. Its form is present of avoir + été (past participle of être) + past participle. Été does not change, but the last participle agrees with the subject in gender and number (la loi a été votée / les textes ont été votés). It is frequent in news reporting results such as votes, decisions and announcements.

Il n’est pas établi qu’il s’agissait d’une panne de même nature.

A pronominal verb is used with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) before the verb. It can mean “do to oneself”, “be done” or “do to each other”. In the news, se traduire (to result in), se tenir (to take place), s’agir de (to be a matter of) and se diffuser (to spread) are frequent. The pronoun changes with the subject (il se tient / ils se tiennent / je me souviens).

Numerama évoque une bascule d’abonnés vers un nouveau cœur de réseau 5G, qui les aurait laissés sans connexion ni sur l’ancien ni sur le nouveau ; Orange ne confirme pas cette migration.

Normally ne and pas wrap the verb. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’. Check which part of the sentence the negation covers. Ne … plus means “no longer”.

Le « cœur de réseau » est l’équipement central qui gère les connexions, l’identification des abonnés et la facturation : s’il tombe, les antennes ont beau fonctionner, plus rien ne passe.

Qui continues a description of the person or thing just mentioned (“the one that does…”). Because qui is itself the subject of the next verb, do not repeat the subject. The verb agrees with the noun qui refers to.

Du matin au soir le 21 octobre, le réseau mobile d’Orange a été perturbé.

Le 15 octobre means “on 15 October”. Distinguish the le before a date from the le that marks a weekly habit like a weekday. Du is de + le and au is à + le, so decide the meaning from the verb and period expressions around them. Their role depends on the group: a range of dates, the date of a bulletin or another complement.

SFR, Bouygues Telecom et Free ont aussi vu des signalements, mais bien moindres : pics de 299, 211 et 146 déclarations sur Downdetector, contre près de 12 000 pour Orange.

These continue with something that contrasts with the preceding content, or a reservation to note. Mais is the widely usable “but” and en revanche stresses the contrast. After the connector, information may come that corrects the first impression.

Downdetectorの最大の報告数は、ブイグが299件、SFRが211件、Freeが146件で、オランジュの約1万2,000件とは、大きく違います。

It takes up a word, as in “在留資格とは？”, and asks for its meaning. In explanations it is used as “〜とは、…です”. Here the quotation と and the topic は are combined.

原因について、移行が関係したという話は、メディアの見方で、オランジュの公式発表ではありません。

They negate a noun and similar content. “ではありません” is the polite form and “ではない” the plain form. “成立ではありません” shows that it cannot be said to have been concluded.

ただし、オランジュは、移行については認めていません。

As in “予算について”, it shows the topic to be talked about or explained. In the form “〜についての報道”, の is added so that the group qualifies the following noun.

「コア網（cœur de réseau）」は、携帯電話の通信の中心になる設備で、電話の接続、契約者の確認、料金の管理などを担当します。

“暴言など” gives “abusive language” as one example. It is not necessarily a closed list of only the things named. It also helps when reading the scope of a news story.

21日の午前から夜まで、オランジュ（Orange）の携帯電話が、つながりにくくなりました。

In “発表しました”, ました makes a verb polite past. The negative is “ませんでした”. Read the actual date together with the date and time in the text.

オランジュは、原因を、設備の故障だと説明しています。

と takes the content that is reported or explained. In “改定する方針だと報じました”, “改定する方針だ” is what the report said. Separating the content from who said it and how makes long sentences easier to read.