Skip to content
JLPT N3Expressions

～ふりをする— Putting On An Act

Means to pretend or act as if something is the case when it is not. The speaker knowingly puts on a false appearance — pretending to sleep, not to know, to understand, and so on. It always implies a deliberate act contrary to reality.

Grammar path · 練習

Practice this in the path

A short lesson: the pattern, its sentence anatomy, a quick quiz and a sentence to build.

Pro lessonUNIT 113 · EXPRESSIONS

Structure · 形

[Verb plain form] / [い-adj] / [な-adj + な] / [Noun + の] + ふりをする

Examples · 例文

  • 彼女は私に気づかないふりをした。

    Kanojo wa watashi ni kizukanai furi o shita.

    She pretended not to notice me.

    Negative verb 気づかない + ふりをした = acting as if she didn't notice

  • 眠っているふりをして、話を聞いていた。

    Nemutte iru furi o shite, hanashi o kiite ita.

    Pretending to be asleep, I was listening to the conversation.

    眠っている + ふりをして shows a fake state maintained on purpose

  • 彼は元気なふりをしているが、本当は疲れている。

    Kare wa genki na furi o shite iru ga, hontou wa tsukarete iru.

    He's pretending to be fine, but he's actually exhausted.

    な-adjective 元気 + な + ふりをしている = putting on a false appearance

Usage notes · 注意

  • Connection: verbs/い-adjectives plain, な-adjectives take な, nouns take の (病気のふり).
  • Always implies deliberate pretense contradicting the truth.
  • Register: neutral; common in everyday speech and narration.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～ふりをする is tested against.

vsように見える

ように見える means something merely 'looks/seems' a certain way (possibly by chance); ふりをする is a conscious act of faking.

vsつもり (だ)

The 'self-delusion' つもり (～たつもり) means one believes/assumes something about oneself; ふりをする is deliberately deceiving others by acting.

More expressions

Study Japanese grammar on LenGaki

Everything on this page, ready to study

  • 7,788 JLPT vocabulary words, N5 through N1, with readings and audio (N5 free)
  • 2,057 kanji with on'yomi, kun'yomi and stroke-order practice
  • 445 grammar points with examples and commonly-confused comparisons
  • Full-length N5 and N4 mock exams, timed, with real listening audio (N5 sets 1 and 2 free)