～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.
Structure
[Verb plain form] / [い-adj] / [な-adj + な] / [Noun + の] + ふりをする
Examples
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
• 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
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