ぶる means "act like", "put on the air of": someone behaves as if they had a quality they don't have, or shows it off. It goes straight after a noun, after a な-adjective with no な, or after an い-adjective with the い dropped, and conjugates as an う-verb: ぶって, ぶった, ぶらない. It is critical – you say it about someone whose act annoys you, or about yourself to admit to one.
。
He always acts like an intellectual.
。
Stop acting like you're clever.
。
He talks in a high-and-mighty way, so people dislike him.
- × 偉いぶる → 偉ぶる
- × 上品なぶる → 上品ぶる
ぶる or ふりをする
is neutral pretending, to anything at all: being asleep, not knowing. ぶる is putting on an air, usually to look better than you are, and it carries the speaker's disapproval.
。
I pretended to be asleep.
。
She talks as if she were rich.
ぶる or びる
says something really has a quality; ぶる says it is an act.
is a child who seems grown-up, and
is one trying to look it.
。
That child is acting grown-up.
Words you meet often
is "play the good child" in front of someone who matters.
is making a big show of something, keeping people waiting for it.
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She plays the good girl and keeps quiet in front of the teacher.
、。
Stop making a big deal of it and just tell me.
Lingaku