French flag

Acting a part with 'faire le': 'faire le fou' and 'faire le mort'

When English describes someone putting on an act, it uses play or act: play dead, play innocent, act crazy, play dumb. French uses the everyday verb faire, followed by the definite article and an adjective used as a noun: faire le mort, faire l'innocent, faire le fou, faire le sourd.

English speakers tend to reach for jouer or agir, or to drop the article and say faire mort. Neither sounds French. The article is essential, and it agrees with the person putting on the act: a woman fait la folle, and a group of children font les morts.

Word list
difficileA1 difficult faire le / la difficile = to be fussy, hard to please durmA1 difficult faire le dur / la dure = to act tough importantmA1 important faire l'important / l'importante = to act self-important, put on airs intéressantmA1 interesting faire l'intéressant / l'intéressante = to show off, seek attention braveA2 brave faire le / la brave = to put on a brave face, act tough étonnémA2 surprised faire l'étonné / l'étonnée = to feign surprise foumA2 crazy faire le fou / la folle = to act crazy, mess about maladeA2 sick faire le / la malade = to pretend to be ill mortmA2 dead faire le mort / la morte = to play dead, lie low surprismA2 surprised faire le surpris / la surprise = to act surprised: ne fais pas le surpris ! aveugleB1 blind faire l'aveugle = to turn a blind eye beaumB1 handsome faire le beau = to strut, show off (of a dog: to sit up and beg) fiermB1 proud faire le fier / la fière = to act proud, show off idiotmB1 stupid faire l'idiot / l'idiote = to play dumb, play the fool imbécileB1 idiot faire l'imbécile = to fool around, act stupid intelligentmB1 smart faire l'intelligent / l'intelligente = to act smart: fais pas l'intelligent ! malinmB1 smart faire le malin / la maligne = to show off, act smart méchantmB1 evil faire le méchant / la méchante = to act nasty, play the tough guy sourdmB1 deaf faire le sourd / la sourde = to pretend not to hear innocentmB2 innocent faire l'innocent / l'innocente = to play innocent modesteB2 humble faire le / la modeste = to put on false modesty muetmB2 mute faire le muet / la muette = to keep silent, say nothing naïfmB2 gullible faire le naïf / la naïve = to play naive, act innocent sotmB2 silly faire le sot / la sotte = to play the fool (literary) ignorantmC2 ignorant faire l'ignorant / l'ignorante = to feign ignorance
How it works

The pattern is faire + le / la / l' / les + adjective. The adjective acts like a noun naming a role, as in "the dead one" or "the innocent one", and the person steps into that role. Only faire is conjugated. The article and the adjective match the gender and number of the subject.

  • Il fait le malade. (masculine singular)
  • Elle fait la malade. (feminine singular)
  • Ils font les malades. (plural)

Before a vowel, le and la become l': faire l'aveugle, faire l'innocente. A good rule of thumb: if English says "play X" or "act X" about someone's behaviour, try faire le X first.

Quand le chien a peur, il fait le mort.
(When the dog is scared, it plays dead.)
Les enfants font les morts dans le jardin.
(The children are playing dead in the garden.)
The words
Pretending a state

With malade, mort, aveugle, sourd and muet, the person pretends to be in a physical state they are not really in. In practice this often means ignoring something on purpose.

Il fait le malade pour ne pas aller à l'école.
(He's pretending to be ill so he doesn't have to go to school.)
Le gouvernement fait l'aveugle face au problème.
(The government is turning a blind eye to the problem.)
Je t'appelle depuis dix minutes, ne fais pas la sourde !
(I've been calling you for ten minutes, don't pretend you can't hear me!)
Pendant l'interrogatoire, il a fait le muet.
(During the questioning, he refused to say a word.)
Après sa gaffe, il a fait le mort pendant une semaine.
(After his blunder, he lay low for a week.)
Les invités ont fait les malades pour quitter la fête plus tôt.
(The guests pretended to be ill so they could leave the party early.)
Elle fait la morte dès qu'on lui demande de l'aide.
(She goes quiet whenever someone asks her for help.)
Nos voisins font les aveugles quand leur chien aboie la nuit.
(Our neighbours pretend not to notice when their dog barks at night.)
Les élèves font les sourds quand le professeur parle des devoirs.
(The pupils pretend not to hear when the teacher talks about homework.)
Le témoin a fait la muette devant le juge.
(The witness kept silent in front of the judge.)
Pretending a quality

Innocent, ignorant and modeste describe a false image someone puts on.

Ne fais pas l'innocente, je sais que c'est toi !
(Don't play innocent, I know it was you!)
Il fait l'ignorant, mais il connaît très bien le dossier.
(He's acting as if he knows nothing, but he knows the file very well.)
Elle fait la modeste, mais elle adore les compliments.
(She's putting on a show of modesty, but she loves compliments.)
Acting silly

Fou, idiot and imbécile can mean either pretending or simply fooling around.

Arrête de faire le fou, tu vas casser quelque chose !
(Stop messing about, you're going to break something!)
Les garçons font les imbéciles au fond de la classe.
(The boys are fooling around at the back of the class.)
Quand on lui pose des questions, il fait l'idiot.
(When people ask him questions, he plays dumb.)
Watch out

Not every expression means pretending. Some describe how someone is genuinely behaving. Faire le malin means to show off or act smart, usually in a way that annoys people. Faire le difficile means to be fussy or hard to please. Nobody is faking anything here. The person is simply behaving that way. The same goes for faire le fou when it means messing about.

Ne fais pas le malin devant tes copains.
(Don't show off in front of your friends.)
Mon fils fait le difficile à chaque repas.
(My son is fussy at every meal.)

Remember the feminine forms that change spelling: la folle, la maligne, la sourde, la muette, la morte. The most common mistake is leaving out the article. Il fait mort is wrong, and so is il joue mort. Say il fait le mort.

Summary

To say that someone plays or acts a part, use faire + definite article + adjective: faire le mort, faire l'innocent, faire la sourde. Never drop the article, and make the article and the adjective agree with the person: elle fait la folle, ils font les morts. Most of these expressions mean pretending, but a few, such as faire le malin and faire le difficile, describe real behaviour.