ふりをする 振りをする - Grammar Discussion

English translation:
to pretend
to act as if

Structure:
Verb[た] + ふりをする
Verb[ている] + ふりをする
Verb[ない] + ふりをする

い-Adj + ふりをする
Noun・の + ふりをする
な-Adj・な + ふりをする

Notes on conjugations

ふりをする is a tricky grammar point when it comes to conjugations as both the verb that comes before it and する can be conjugated. It really boils down to what the speaker wishes to emphasize, but there are a few quirky things in Japanese that make this a tad confusing.

泣いたふりをしたって無駄ですよ。

If we use the above sentence as an example and change the conjugation around, we will get multiple nuances. 泣いたフリ - literally means “to pretend to have cried,” but it is a much more common expression meaning “to pretend to cry.” You can use 泣く here, but it removes any sense of having already done the crying (most likely used by someone who WILL be pretending to cry for the first time). Next, we can use 泣いて(い)るふり, “to pretend to be crying,” or 泣いて(い)たふり, “to pretend to have been crying.”

Notice that the English translations all focus on what is happening to “cry.” Once you start conjugating する, it can get a bit convoluted. 泣いたふりをした - “pretended to have cried,” 泣いたふりをする - “pretend to cry (with focus on past actions),” 泣いているふりをしている - “pretending to be crying,” 泣いていたふりをしている - “pretending to have been crying,” etc.

As you can see, the number of possible conjugations and interpretations of those conjugations is quite large and I only covered a few examples. We try our best to catch alternative answers or answers that you might attempt that would be close to the correct answer. If you feel that you tried something that should have worked, please let us know so that we can update those answers.

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Why is the verb often in the past tense in the past when the sense is hypthetical?
熊くまに遭遇そうぐうした時とき、死しんだ ふりをして もあまり意味いみがないと聞きいた。
I have heard that when you encounter a bear, even if you pretend to be dead, it won’t make much difference.

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Hi
This isn’t past tense, it’s た form. As I’m sure you know, た doesn’t always indicate past tense. From what I can remember about conjugating verbs with ふり, unless you’re talking in the present tense or the negative tense, it should always conjugate with た.
~たふり
~ているふり
~ないふり

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One of the links is outdated :frowning:
The Native grammar breakdown one.

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@Daru Thank you for letting us know! I have updated the link. Cheers!

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Thanks for the fast answer as always!

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If this is true, I must say that I don’t feel like it’s reflected on the Bunpro grammar page for it.

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@Aythreuk I have updated both the Verb[た] grammar point page and this page with the information that @matt_in_mito provided. I have also updated the Structure for this grammar point. Cheers!

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I still don’t find any information it this grammar point about the difference between 〜た and 〜ている unless I missed something.

I just got “When you pretended to cry, it was useless.” in a review, the default answer and the audio recording give “泣いたふりをしたって無駄ですよ”, however “泣いているふりをした…” is accepted as an alternative answer.

Given that the past tense is carried by する here I’m still unsure what the nuance between the two is, if any.

Is it simply “when you pretended to cry” vs. “when you were pretending to cry”?

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I struggle a lot with the different ways to conjugate that grammar point, probably because I don’t understand the difference in english either.

What is the difference between saying:

()かっている ふりをしていた が and 分()かっている ふりをした が?

Is it like saying this in english?

I was pretending that I knew what was going on, but I didn’t understand anything.
I pretended that I knew what was going on, but I didn’t understand anything.

Assuming the second sentence is correct I don’t really see a difference in meaning.

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