Sjedi stari Zlokotlokrp i stara Zlokotlokrpa i njihovih dvoje troje zlokotlokrpčadi.
/Sitting is/ old cauldron-mender and his old cauldron-mendress (wife) and their two or three cauldron-menderlings (children)
Cvrči cvrči cvrčak na čvoru crne smrče. (V. Nazor)
Chirping chirping cricket on the knot of a black spruce.
The following is written with syllable accents although one does not normally write them down as they are usually implied by context. However, writing this sentence without accents would make it unintelligible.
Gőre gőrē gőre gòrē, no što gőre gòrē dolje.
/Up there/ /worse/ mountains are burning, than mountains are burning down there.
The following is Lion Eating Poet in the Stone Den, a famous tongue twister written by Yuen Ren Chao. It is a short story written exclusively with various tones of one syllable (shi), and composed in the literary Chinese style.
Shí shì shī shì shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī. Shì shí shí shì shì shì shī. Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì. Shì shí, shì shī shì shì shì. Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shì shì. Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shí shì. Shí shì shī, shì shǐ shì shì shí shì. Shí shì shì, shì shǐ shì shí shí shī shī. Shí shí, shǐ shì shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī. Shì shì shì shì.
The following tongue-twister is based on the fact that the word "four" sounds like the word "ten":
四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。你不要把十四说成四十，四十说成十四。
Sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shí sì shì shí sì, sì shí shì sì shí. Nǐ bú yào bǎ shí sì shuō chéng sì shí, sì shí shuō chéng shí sì.
Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty. You shouldn't say 'fourteen' as 'forty' or 'forty' as 'fourteen'.
This phrase can be used to tell if someone is drunk or not:
A ghost with rubberboots haunted in the chest of drawers
Jüriöö ülestõus (jokingly used to determine if a non-native speaker has mastered the difficult accented vowels)
The Jüriöö uprising , in the night of April 23, 1343 peasants in Northern Estonia rebelled against their Danish overlords and cleansed much of the country of the foreign rulers.
Õunapuu õitseaeg on Jüriöö ülestõusust jõululaupäevani
Blossom-time of an apple-tree is from the Jüriöö uprising until the Christmas Eve.
Si ces saucissons sont bons, ces saucissons-ci sont aussi bons.
If those sausages are good, these sausages here are also good.
Kiki était cocotte et Coco concasseur de cacao. Kiki la cocotte aimait beaucoup Coco le concasseur de cacao. Or un marquis caracolant, caduc et cacochyme, conquis par les coquins quinquets de Kiki la cocotte, offrit à Kiki la cocotte un coquet caraco kaki à col de caracul. Quand Coco le concasseur de cacao comprit qu'un marquis caracolant, caduc et cacochyme conquis par les coquins quinquets de Kiki la cocotte, avait offert à Kiki la cocotte un coquet caraco kaki à col de caracul, il conclut « Je clos mon caquet, je suis cocu ! »
Panier piano (repeated)
Basket piano
Les chausettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches ou archi sèches?
Are the archduchess's socks dry or very dry?
Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.
If my uncle shaves your uncle, your uncle will be shaved.
Je veux et j'exige du jasmin et des jonquilles.
I want and demand jasmin and daffodils.
Natacha n'attacha pas son chat qui s'échappa,
Natacha did not tie up her cat, who escaped
Un dragon gradé dégrade un dragon gradé.
A commissioned dragoon decommissione a commissioned dragoon.
Je suis un original qui ne se désoriginalisera jamais.
I am an orignal who will never de-originalise.
Spock s'pique avec du speed ? Mais c'est stupide ! Spock spécule et s'perd dans des spleens sporadiques.
Spock takes speed by intraveinous ? That's stupid ? Spock speculates and loses himself into sporadic melancoly.
Les salauds salissent Solaar cela me lasse. Mais laisse les salir sur ce, salut! ("Caroline", MC Solaar)
The bastards dirty [make fun of] Solaar, this annoys me. But let them dirty this, bye!
The whiskey mixer (barman) mixes whiskey with the whiskey mixer (device). (The fun here lies in the most probable mistake: wichsen is a vulgar German term for "to masturbate".)
A gardner grew a cereal in the garden, a large cereal grew in the garden.
שרה שרה שיר שמח
Sara sings a happy song.
נחש נשך נחש
A snake bit a snake.
אני לא מהמתמהמהים, אני מהמתמהמהות
I am not a procrastinator, I am a procrastinating woman.
אישה נעלה נעלה נעלה נעלה את הדלת בפני בעלה
A noblewoman put on a shoe, shut the door in her husband's face. (This is a game with the conjugation rules that allow to construct identical words (in spelling and pronunciation) with different meanings. Such twisters exist in Arabic too.)
זה אני me-זה מי ו who-זה הוא ו he-זה היא ו she
This one translates words from English to Hebrew. Translating all the Hebrew words to English would give "She means she, and he means he, and who means who, and me means me." Each Hebrew word is pronounced like the English word of the next couple.
עכו כוסתה טל, צפת אף היא כוסתה טל
Acre was covered with dew, Safed was covered with dew too.
Variation: שלג (snow) instead of טל (dew). This is more of an ear twister, you are supposed to pronounce it with no spaces, leaving the listened to guess what the קוקוס and the פיקוס are doing there.
Un pezzo di pizza che puzza nel pozzo del pazzo di pezza.
A piece of pizza that stinks in the well of the ragged fool.
Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa
On the bench, the goat lives, under the bench the goat dies
Apelle, figlio di Apollo, fece una palla di pelle di pollo. Tutti i pesci venirono a galla, per vedere la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle, figlio di Apollo.
Apelle, son of Apollo, made a ball out of chicken skin. All the fishes came to the surface to see the ball made of chicken skin by Apelle, son of Apollo.
Tre tigri contro tre tigri, tre tigri contro tre tigri ...
Three tigers against three tigers ... (ad nauseam)
The police headquarters' iron window bar (has) single-layer iron bars; the public prosecutor's office's iron window bar (has) double-layered iron bars.
The most popular Polish tongue-twister, these are the first two lines from Chrząszcz, a poem by Jan Brzechwa, in which almost all of the consonants make some kind of buzzing noise. Often, only the first line is used, which is hard enough as a tongue-twister.
In a fast speech the latter mention of oak soup (zupa dębowa) is often mispronounced as dupa, a slightly vulgar word in Polish.
The phonemes themselves are not difficult to pronounce, but long words (the first one has 11 syllables) make accents rare, resulting in flat, accentless, robotic speech. Note, that it is much easier to read it, than to repeat it by ear.
The k, r, and l letters are used as often in the full phrase as in the last three words of the English translation (which themselves work almost as well as in Polish).
This is a ficticious though possible full name in Polish, from the 1969 Polish comedy How I Unleashed World War II (Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową) directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski , where it was used by the main character to confuse Gestapo officers asking for his name. When asked about his birthplace he replied with gmina Chrząszczyżeboszyce, powiat Łęgołody (commune Chrząszczyżeboszyce in the powiat of Łęgołody), which is even harder to pronounce.
Três pratos de trigo para três tigres tristes (repeated)
Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers
Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres (quickly).
One tiger, two tigers, three tigers.
O rato roeu a rolha da garrafa de rum do rei da Rússia.
The mouse gnawed the cork of the bottle of rum of the king of Russia.
O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma.
The mouse gnawed the clothes of the king of Rome.
O rato roer roía e, a Rosa Rita Ramalho, do rato a roer se ria!
The mouse gnaw gnawed and, Rosa Rita Ramalho, of the mouse that gnaws laughs!
A pia pinga, o pinto pia, pinga a pia, pia o pinto,o pinto perto da pia, a pia perto do pinto.
The sink drips, the young chicken chirps, drips the sink, chirps the young chicken, the young chicken close to the sink, the sink close to the young chicken.
Pedro tem o peito preto. Preto é o peito de Pedro. Quem disser que o peito de Pedro não é preto, tem o peito mais preto que o peito de Pedro.
Peter has the black chest. Black is the chest of Peter. Who says that the chest of Peter is not black, has the chest more black than the chest of Peter.
O peito do pé de Pedro é preto.
The top of Peter's foot is black.
Pedreiro da catedral está aqui o padre Pedro? - Qual padre Pedro? - O padre Pedro Pires Pisco Pascoal. - Aqui na catedral tem três padres Pedros Pires Piscos Pascoais. Como em outras catedrais.
Mason of the cathedral is the priest Peter here? - Which priest Peter? - the priest Peter Pires Pisco Pascoal. - Here in the cathedral it has three priests Peters Pires Piscos Pascoais. As in other cathedrals.
A aranha arranha a rã, a rã arranha a aranha.
The spider scratches the frog, the frog scratches the spider.
Karl stole corals from Klara and Klara stole a clarinet from Karl.
Ехал Грека через реку, видит Грека — в реке рак. Сунул Грека руку в реку, рак за руку Греку цап.
Greka (a Greek) was riding across a river, and saw that there was a crawfish in the river. Greka put his hand in the river and the crawfish bit his hand.
Тридцать три корабля лавировали, лавировали, да не вылавировали.
Thirty-three ships tacked, tacked, but didn't tack out.
Сшит колпак не по-колпаковски. Надо бы колпак переколпаковать, надо перевыколпаковать.
The cap is sewn noncapways. One has to re-cap the cap, to over-recap it.
Цапля чахла; цапля сохла; цапля сдохла.
Heron had been withering, heron had been pining away, heron kicked the bucket. Repeat quickly multiple times, with the emphasis shifting from the first word over to the second, the fourth, and the sixth.
"Расскажите про покупки!" "Про какие про покупки?" "Про покупки, про покупки, про покупочки свои!"
"Tell me about what you bought!" "What about what I bought?" "About what you bought, about what you bought, about what you bought itself!"
Raskiseliše li ti se ti opanci? Razveseliše li ti se gosti? (Раскиселише ли ти се ти опанци? Развеселише ли ти се гости?)
Have these opanci (kind of shoes) of yours been well soaked? Have your guests became jolly?
Ture bure valja; bula bure gura. Brže ture bure valja no što bula bure gura. (Туре буре ваља, була буре гура. Брже туре буре ваља но што була буре гура.)
A Turk brat rolls a barrel; a Turk damsel pushes a barrel. Turk brat faster rolls a barrel than Turk damsel pushes a barrel.
Gore gore gore gore. (Горе горе горе горе)
Up there woods burn worse. (Each word is said with different tone, and that is tongue-twister. Further, as Serbian language has flexible word order, there are 24 combinations of the tones, each having different emphasis. It is not easy to say all 24 combinations one after the other.)
Opskrbljen (Опскрбљен)
Supplied (This is actually not a tongue-twister for speakers of Serbian and similar languages, but is for speakers of languages which don't have words with what looks like six consonants together.)
Шаш деветорошаш, ал' се раздеветорошашио.
Četiri čavčića na čunčiću čučeći cijuču. (Четири чавчића на чунчићу чучећи цијучу.)
"A pedestrian (goes) over a driveway." If spoken repetedly, one gets lost in the flurry of "s", "sh", "ts" and "ch" sounds.
Čmrlj ( /ʧmərlj/)
"A bumble bee" Pronounced as a single syllable, starting with "chm-", followed by an "uh" vowel, and concluded with "rly", where r is rolled and y is pronounced similarly as in the English word "yes". (not considered a tonguetwister for native speakers)
Čmrljščina ( /ʧmərlj.'ʃʧi.na/}
"The bumble-bee language" This is a made-up word, but it is perfectly understandable and pronounceable in Slovenian as "čmrlj" above, followed by two syllables: "shchi-na".
Iz Jež'ce čez cesto v Stož'ce po rož'ce. (IPA ?)
From Ježica over the road in Stožice to get flowers.
Marko/komar (repeat)
Marko is a personal name, komar means mosquito. If you repeat quickly you don't know anymore which one is which.
El arzobispo de Constantinopla se quiere desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizar y el arzobispo que lo desarzobispoconstantinopolitanice buen desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizador será.
The archbishop of Constantinople does not want to be the archbishop of Constantinople, and the archbishop who un-archbishop-of-Constantinople-izes him will be a good un-archbishop-of-Constantinople-ifier.
Tres tristes tigres traigan trigo en un trigal.
Three sad tigers bring (carry) wheat in a wheat field.
(This is especially difficult for non-native speakers because of the pronunciation of the Spanish "r")
La madre y la hija van a misa. La madre pisa paja; la hija paja pisa.
"The mother and her daughter are on her way to attend a mass. The mother steps on straw; the daughter on straw steps." Devised to make the speaker say "la hija pasa pija" (the daughter passes pija; the last word being either an insult or a colloquial word meaning 'penis').
Sobre el triple trapecio de Trípoli trabajaban, trigonométricamente trastrocados, tres tristes triunviros trogloditas, tropezando atribulados contra trípodes, triclinios y otros trastos triturados por el tremendo tetrarca trapense.
Over the triple trapeze of Tripoli there worked, trigonometrically switched over, three sad troglodyte triumvirs, afflictedly bumping into tripods, triclinia and other gear crushed by the terrible Trappist tetrarch. Probably by Ramón del Valle Inclán (?)
María Chuzena techaba su choza y un techador que por allí pasaba le dijo: «Maria Chuzena, ¿tú techas tu choza o techas la ajena? — No techo mi choza, ni techo la ajena; yo techo la choza de María Chuzena» dijo Maria Chuzena al techador que por allí pasaba.
Maria Chuzena was repairing her hut's roof, and a roof repairman that was passing by asked her: "Maria Chuzena, do you repair your hut's roof, or do you repair another person's?" "I dont repair my hut's roof or another person's; I repair Maria Chuzena's roof," said Maria Chuzena to the roof repairman who was passing by.
Pedro Perez Pereira, pobre pintor Portugues, empaca poquitas copitas en poquitos paquetes para poder partir para Paris.
Pedro Perez Pereira, a poor Portuguese painter, packs a few cups in a few packets in order to travel to Paris.
"Fly, ugly fly, fly! And the ugly fly flew." (Three rounded vowels, "u", "y", and "ö" occur in seven out of nine words, making it hard not to mix them up.)
Ö, ö, höö, höös mö.
Island, island, Grassy island, Grassy island's bride.
Dialectal
I åa ä e ö, å i öa ä e å (Dialect of Värmland region)
(Standard Swedish): I ån finns det en ö, och på ön finns det en å.
(English): In the stream there is an island, and on the island there is a stream.
