Não finjas estar perdido.

Finjas comes from the verb fingir, which means to pretend or to fake.

In this sentence, finjas means you pretend in the sense of don’t pretend.

So:

• fingir = to pretend
• finjas = (that) you pretend / used here as don’t pretend

This is because negative commands in Portuguese use the present subjunctive, not the indicative.

So although:

• tu finges = you pretend

the negative command is:

• não finjas = don’t pretend

This is a very important pattern in Portuguese:

• fala = speak

• não fales = don’t speak

• come = eat

• não comas = don’t eat

• finge = pretend
• não finjas = don’t pretend

So não finges would sound like a statement, not the correct negative imperative.

It is talking to tu.

The form finjas is the present subjunctive form for tu in this command structure.

Compare:

• tu: Não finjas estar perdido.
• você: Não finja estar perdido.

In European Portuguese, tu is very common in informal situations, so this sentence sounds natural in that context.

To form the present subjunctive of fingir, you start from the eu form of the present indicative:

• eu finjo

Then remove the -o and add the subjunctive endings:

• que eu finja
• que tu finjas
• que ele/ela/você finja
• que nós finjamos
• que vós finjais
• que eles/elas/vocês finjam

So finjas is the tu form of the present subjunctive.

After fingir, Portuguese often uses an infinitive phrase to say what someone is pretending to do or be.

So:

• fingir estar perdido = to pretend to be lost

Here:

• Não finjas estar perdido. = Don’t pretend to be lost.

This structure is very common:

• Ela fingiu dormir. = She pretended to sleep.
• Ele fingiu não ouvir. = He pretended not to hear.
• Não finjas saber. = Don’t pretend to know.

Portuguese uses estar because being lost is seen as a temporary state or condition, not an essential characteristic.

So:

• estar perdido = to be lost
• ser perdido would not be natural here

This matches a common Portuguese distinction:

• ser = to be, for identity/essential qualities
• estar = to be, for states/conditions/locations

Since lost is a condition someone is in, Portuguese uses estar.

Here, perdido means lost.

In estar perdido, it describes the subject’s state:

• estar perdido = to be lost

Because the person being addressed is understood to be masculine singular, the sentence uses perdido.

If speaking to a woman, you would normally say:

• Não finjas estar perdida.

So the adjective changes to match the person.

Yes, you can, and it is understandable.

• Não finjas estar perdido.
• Não finjas que estás perdido.

Both mean roughly Don’t pretend to be lost.

However, fingir + infinitive is very natural and concise in Portuguese, so Não finjas estar perdido sounds especially smooth and idiomatic.

The version with que estás is a bit more explicit.

It works in Portuguese generally, but it feels especially natural in European Portuguese because of the use of tu forms like finjas.

In Brazilian Portuguese, people often use você more often in everyday speech, so a more typical Brazilian version might be:

• Não finja estar perdido.

That said, Brazilians would still understand Não finjas estar perdido, though it may sound regional, formal, or associated with places where tu is used.

In European Portuguese, the pronunciation is roughly:

não FIN-jash esh-TAR per-DEE-du

A few helpful notes:

• não has a nasal sound, something like nowng
• finjas: the j sounds like the s in measure
• estar often sounds more like shtar in connected speech
• perdido has stress on di: per-DI-do

European Portuguese often reduces unstressed vowels, so it may sound more compressed than you expect from the spelling.

Yes. Fingir can cover both ideas depending on context.

Examples:

• fingir estar doente = to pretend to be ill
• fingir surpresa = to fake surprise
• fingir que não viu = to pretend not to have seen / to act as if one didn’t see

In your sentence, pretend is the best translation:

• Não finjas estar perdido. = Don’t pretend to be lost.

The normal and most natural order is:

• Não finjas estar perdido.

This is the standard order:

• não
  • verb + infinitive phrase

Changing the order would usually sound marked, poetic, or unnatural in ordinary speech.

So for learners, the safest pattern is:

• Não
  • subjunctive verb
    • rest of sentence

The positive command for tu would be:

• Finge estar perdido. = Pretend to be lost.

So you get this contrast:

• Finge estar perdido. = Pretend to be lost.
• Não finjas estar perdido. = Don’t pretend to be lost.

This difference is important because Portuguese uses different forms for positive and negative commands:

• positive tu command: often based on the indicative
• negative command: uses the present subjunctive

That is why finge becomes finjas after não.