ふりをするpretend to
Someone puts on an act: they know, but act as if they don't; they are awake, but act asleep. It is done on purpose, for others to see.
Although he knew the answer, he pretended not to know.
How to form it
Plain form + ふりをする
知らないふり, 寝たふり, 怖くないふり. A な-adjective takes な and a noun takes の: 平気なふり, 客のふり.
- Before it
- What they want you to believe. Often a negative (知らない, 聞こえない, 気づかない) or a た-form: 寝た (asleep), 分かった (understood), 死んだ (dead).
- After it
- Often ふりをして, then what they did behind the act.
- Said about
- Yourself or anyone else.
- Tone
- None of its own: the act can be kind, playful or dishonest.
- Where you'll meet it
- Conversation and stories.
In use
I was nervous, but I acted calm and walked out onto the stage.
The reporter hid who they were and went into the shop pretending to be a tourist.
My younger sister had noticed the present, but she kindly pretended not to know about it.
Don't pretend you can't hear me.
In casual speech the を often drops.
Two things to know
Someone is doing it on purpose
English "act like" can be deliberate or not. ふりをする is only the deliberate kind. When it is just how things look to you, it is みたいだ or ようだ.
My brother is pretending to be asleep.
He is awake, and wants you to think he isn't.
My brother seems to be asleep.
Your reading of the signs. Nobody is pretending.
見て見ぬふり
A set phrase: you saw, and act as if you hadn't. English says "turn a blind eye". The ぬ is an old ない.
She noticed the salesclerk's mistake but looked the other way.
Close neighbours
たつもりN3
No audience. In your own head you take something as done and act on that.
As if I had bought the shoes I wanted, I put the same amount into savings.
かのように is how someone looks from outside, mostly in writing. It doesn't say they mean to fool anyone.
They had only won the first round, but the players celebrated as if they had won the whole tournament.
たことにするN2
English "let's pretend it never happened" is this one. You decide to treat something as so: a decision, not a show.
I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
Check yourself
1What is your brother doing?
弟は
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
彼女は
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
知らんぷり is a casual word for 知らないふり.
Even when our mother calls him, my brother pretends not to notice.
More sentences
I was actually awake, but I pretended to be asleep so I could surprise the child.
He hadn't listened to the explanation, but he nodded, pretending he had understood.
I was scared, but in front of the children I pretended not to be.
He was not an employee, but he tried to get into the building by pretending to be one.
He hadn't done his homework, but he pretended he had finished and went out to play.