🙈🤷

How to Say ‘Act as if nothing happened’ in Italian

Fai finta di niente

fy FEEN-tah dee NYEHN-teh

[fy FEEN-tah dee NYEHN-teh]

💬 Usage Tip: fare finta di means "to pretend": fa finta di dormire "he's pretending to sleep". di niente makes it "pretend nothing's up".

Phrase Breakdown

Fai finta

fy FEEN-tah

Pretend

'Fare finta' means 'to pretend'. 'Fai' is the informal 'you' form, used here as a command.

Example

Fai finta di dormire.

Pretend to be asleep.

Words in this phrase

Fai

[fy]

make / do (you)

Informal command of 'fare'; in 'fai finta' it means pretend.

Example

Fai attenzione!

Be careful!

finta

[FEEN-tah]

pretence

Used in 'fare finta', to pretend.

Example

Fa finta di dormire.

He pretends to sleep.

di niente

dee NYEHN-teh

nothing happened

'Fare finta di niente' is an idiom: 'act as if nothing happened'. Say 'NIEN-te'.

Example

Lui fa finta di niente.

He's acting like nothing happened.

Words in this phrase

[dee]

(links verb phrase)

Preposition linking 'fare finta' to what is pretended.

Example

Faccio finta di non sapere.

I pretend not to know.

niente

[NYEHN-teh]

nothing

Used to indicate the absence of anything.

Example

Non c'è niente qui.

There is nothing here.

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