Vietnamese phrase
How to say “Acting cool/pretentious” in Vietnamese
“Acting cool/pretentious” in Vietnamese is
Tỏ vẻ
Hear it in both accents
Vietnamese sounds noticeably different north to south. Both are recorded so you can match wherever you are.
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Used in a sentence
Cậu ấy cứ thích tỏ vẻ trước mặt bạn gái.
He keeps trying to act cool in front of his girlfriend.
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Worth knowing
Word by word: tỏ (to show/reveal) + vẻ (appearance/manner)
When you would use it
This line comes from the Gen Z Vietnamese Slang situation pack in XinChao (Legend) — the moments you actually run into in Việt Nam, not textbook drills.
See the survival packs