In two experiments, 3- to 5-year-old children watched pretend-play scenarios in which animals reacted to objects. When children were asked who reacts to objects in this way, children often gave generic responses. For instance, after seeing pretend play in which two dogs were afraid of raccoons, they often asserted that ‘‘dogs” are afraid of raccoons. In contrast, when children heard statements about the particular animals, they were less likely to give generic responses and instead often referred to the particular animals described by the statement (e.g., ‘‘The dogs are afraid of raccoons”). This difference occurred at all ages in our first experiment but only in older children in our second exper-iment. In the second experiment, both pretend play and non-generic language led younger children to give generic responses at high rates. These high rates of generic responses show that the age difference resulted from changes in children’s interpretation of non-generic language and not from changes in their interpretation of pretense.