Online Encyclopedia
List of tongue-twisters
List of tongue-twisters in English
- Proper cup of coffee from the copper coffee pot.
- A popular song in England contains the lyric "If I can't get a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot I'll have a cup of tea."
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
- Or, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
- A black bug's blood [repeated]
- Toy boat [repeated]
- Unique New York [repeated]
- A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer. [repeated]
- I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit, upon a slitted sheet I sit. (used in Steve Martin's The Jerk)
- She sells sea shells by the sea shore; the sea-shells that she sells are sea-shells I'm sure. or the hackers' version, She sells cshells by the cshore
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
- an actual dialogue from a 1991 computer game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, between the main hero and a woodsmith:
- How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- A woodchuck could chuck no amount of wood since a woodchuck can’t chuck wood.
- But if a woodchuck could chuck and would chuck some amount of wood, what amount of wood would a woodchuck chuck?
- Even if a woodchuck could chuck wood, and even if a woodchuck would chuck wood, should a woodchuck chuck wood?
- A woodchuck should chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, as long as a woodchuck would chuck wood.
- Oh. Shut up.
- He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts
- I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate, and I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late. I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son, and I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.
(The most common mistake here involves a spoonerism of pheasant plucker and derivative phrases) - Rubber baby buggy bumpers [repeated] (used in the song "Fire Water Burn" by the Bloodhound Gang, and an episode of The Simpsons)
- The black bloke's back brake block broke.
- Red lorry, yellow lorry [repeated] Variants: Red leather, yellow leather; Red welly, yellow welly
- Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. / "But," she said, "this butter's bitter! / If I put it in my batter, / It will make my batter bitter!" / So she bought a bit of butter / Better than her bitter butter, / And she put it in her batter, / And her batter was not bitter. / So 'twas better Betty Botter / Bought a bit of better butter.
- or: Betty bought a bit of butter, but the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter, so Betty bought a better bit of butter than the bit of butter Betty bought before.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick
- Road-roller [repeated]
- Liril [repeated fast]
- A cricket critic [repeated]
- Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
- The Leith police dismisseth us.
- We reweave rips. (A sign in the window of a taylor's shop.)
- One smart fellow, he felt smart / Two smart fellows, they felt smart / Three smart fellows, they all felt smart [fast]
- Legend tripping
- The winkle ship sank and the shrimp ship swam
- Irish wristwatch [repeated]
- A canner can can anything that he can, but a canner can't can a can, can he?
- A tutor who tooted the flute / Tried to tutor two tooters to toot / Said the two to the tutor / "Is it tougher to toot / Or to tutor two tooters to toot?"
- A certain young fellow named Beebee / Wished to marry a lady named Phoebe / "But," he said. " I must see / What the minister's fee be / Before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebee" (A limerick that turns into a tongue-twister at the last phrase.)
- Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie
- "Are you copper-bottoming 'em my man?" "No, I'm aluminiuming 'em ma'am"
Tongue twisters in languages other than English
Albanian
- Karikaturisti karikaturon karikatura karakteristike (listen)
- Kupa me kapak kupa pa kapak (listen)
- translation: The cup with a lid the cup without a lid
- Polli pula e Lleshit në kaçile t'leshit (listen)
- translation: The hen of Lleshi laid an egg in a wool basket
Bulgarian
- Крал Карл и кралица клара крали кларинети от кралските кларинетисти.
- Петър плет плете, през три реда преплита. Плети, Петре, плета.
Catalan
- Setze jutges d'un jutjat menjant fetge de penjat.
translation: Sixteen judges from a court eating hanged man's liver.
Chinese (Cantonese)
(known as 急口令)
- ming5 ding2 bing1 ding1 ting4 ding6 ting3 (酩酊兵丁停定聽)
translation: The drunken soldier stopped and listened. - fu6 fu5 fu4 fu1 fu6 fu3 fu2 (傅婦扶夫赴富府)
translation: Fu's wife carried her husband to the rich man's mansion. - yap9 sat9 yim6 sat1 gam6 gan2 gap7 dzai3, gwat9 gai1 gwat9 gwat7 gwat9 gai1 gwat9 (入實驗室襟緊急掣，掘雞掘骨掘雞骨)
translation: Go to the laboratory and press the emergency button, dig for the chicken, dig for the bone, and dig for the chicken bone.
Chinese (Mandarin)
(known as 繞口令)
- xī shī sǐ shí sì shí sì (西施死時四十四)
translation: Xi Shi (a famous woman) died at age 44.
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.
- 施氏食獅史
- 石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。氏時時適市視獅。十時，適十獅適市。是時，適施氏適是市。氏視十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。食時，始識十獅實十石獅屍。試釋是事。
- shī shì shí shī shǐ
- 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.
This phrase can be used to tell if someone is drunk or not:
- 四十四头死的石狮子
- Sì shí sì tǒu sǐ de shí shī zi
- (Forty-four dead stone lions)
Czech
- Strč prst skrz krk.
Translation: Stick a finger through your throat.
Note that this sentence has no vowels! - Nesnese se se sestrou.
Translation: He doesn't get on with his sister. - Roli lorda Rolfa hrál Vladimír Leraus.
Translation: The role of lord Rolf was played by VL. - Nenaolejuje-li koleje Julie, naolejuji je já.
Translation: If Julie doesn't oil rails, I will oil them.
Danish
- Rød grød med fløde.
Translation: Red jelly with cream.
Dutch
- De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets.
Translation: The coachman cleans the stagecoach with stagecoach cleaner. - De kat krabt de krullen van de trap met drie droge doeken.
Translation: The cat scratches the woodcurls of the stairs with three dry cloths - De knappe kapper kapt knap, maar de knappe knecht van de knappe kapper kapt knapper dan de knappe kapper kappen kan.
Translation: the clever barber cuts hair well, but the clever helper of the clever barber cuts hair more clever that the clever barber can cut it.
Esperanto
- Ĉu ŝi scias se ĉi-scene la sklavo ŝtelas la sceptron?
Translation: Does she know if the slave steals the sceptre during this scene?
Estonian
- Pagari piparkook (repeated).
Translation: Baker's ginger biscuit. - Musta lehma saba valge lehma taga, valge lehma saba musta lehma taga (repeated).
Translation: Black cow's tail behind a white cow, white cow's tail behind a black cow. - Kabli klubi (repeated).
Translation: Club of Kabli. - Asjaajaja ja jaamaülem (repeated, sobriety test).
Translation: Procurator and stationmaster. - Jüriöö ülestõus (jokingly used to determine if a non-native speaker has mastered the difficult accented vowels)
Translation: the Jüriöö upraisal, 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. - Kuulilennuteetunneliluuk.
Translation: The hatch of the tunnel of ballistic trajectory.
List of tongue-twisters in English
- Proper cup of coffee from the copper coffee pot.
- A popular song in England contains the lyric "If I can't get a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot I'll have a cup of tea."
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
- Or, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
- A black bug's blood [repeated]
- Toy boat [repeated]
- Unique New York [repeated]
- A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer. [repeated]
- I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit, upon a slitted sheet I sit. (used in Steve Martin's The Jerk)
- She sells sea shells by the sea shore; the sea-shells that she sells are sea-shells I'm sure. or the hackers' version, She sells cshells by the cshore
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
- an actual dialogue from a 1991 computer game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, between the main hero and a woodsmith:
- How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- A woodchuck could chuck no amount of wood since a woodchuck can’t chuck wood.
- But if a woodchuck could chuck and would chuck some amount of wood, what amount of wood would a woodchuck chuck?
- Even if a woodchuck could chuck wood, and even if a woodchuck would chuck wood, should a woodchuck chuck wood?
- A woodchuck should chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, as long as a woodchuck would chuck wood.
- Oh. Shut up.
- He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts
- I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate, and I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late. I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son, and I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.
(The most common mistake here involves a spoonerism of pheasant plucker and derivative phrases) - Rubber baby buggy bumpers [repeated] (used in the song "Fire Water Burn" by the Bloodhound Gang, and an episode of The Simpsons)
- The black bloke's back brake block broke.
- Red lorry, yellow lorry [repeated] Variants: Red leather, yellow leather; Red welly, yellow welly
- Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. / "But," she said, "this butter's bitter! / If I put it in my batter, / It will make my batter bitter!" / So she bought a bit of butter / Better than her bitter butter, / And she put it in her batter, / And her batter was not bitter. / So 'twas better Betty Botter / Bought a bit of better butter.
- or: Betty bought a bit of butter, but the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter, so Betty bought a better bit of butter than the bit of butter Betty bought before.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick
- Road-roller [repeated]
- Liril [repeated fast]
- A cricket critic [repeated]
- Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
- The Leith police dismisseth us.
- We reweave rips. (A sign in the window of a taylor's shop.)
- One smart fellow, he felt smart / Two smart fellows, they felt smart / Three smart fellows, they all felt smart [fast]
- Legend tripping
- The winkle ship sank and the shrimp ship swam
- Irish wristwatch [repeated]
- A canner can can anything that he can, but a canner can't can a can, can he?
- A tutor who tooted the flute / Tried to tutor two tooters to toot / Said the two to the tutor / "Is it tougher to toot / Or to tutor two tooters to toot?"
- A certain young fellow named Beebee / Wished to marry a lady named Phoebe / "But," he said. " I must see / What the minister's fee be / Before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebee" (A limerick that turns into a tongue-twister at the last phrase.)
- Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie
- "Are you copper-bottoming 'em my man?" "No, I'm aluminiuming 'em ma'am"
Tongue twisters in languages other than English
Albanian
- Karikaturisti karikaturon karikatura karakteristike (listen)
- Kupa me kapak kupa pa kapak (listen)
- translation: The cup with a lid the cup without a lid
- Polli pula e Lleshit në kaçile t'leshit (listen)
- translation: The hen of Lleshi laid an egg in a wool basket
Bulgarian
- Крал Карл и кралица клара крали кларинети от кралските кларинетисти.
- Петър плет плете, през три реда преплита. Плети, Петре, плета.
Catalan
- Setze jutges d'un jutjat menjant fetge de penjat.
translation: Sixteen judges from a court eating hanged man's liver.
Chinese (Cantonese)
(known as 急口令)
- ming5 ding2 bing1 ding1 ting4 ding6 ting3 (酩酊兵丁停定聽)
translation: The drunken soldier stopped and listened. - fu6 fu5 fu4 fu1 fu6 fu3 fu2 (傅婦扶夫赴富府)
translation: Fu's wife carried her husband to the rich man's mansion. - yap9 sat9 yim6 sat1 gam6 gan2 gap7 dzai3, gwat9 gai1 gwat9 gwat7 gwat9 gai1 gwat9 (入實驗室襟緊急掣，掘雞掘骨掘雞骨)
translation: Go to the laboratory and press the emergency button, dig for the chicken, dig for the bone, and dig for the chicken bone.
Chinese (Mandarin)
(known as 繞口令)
- xī shī sǐ shí sì shí sì (西施死時四十四)
translation: Xi Shi (a famous woman) died at age 44.
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.
- 施氏食獅史
- 石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。氏時時適市視獅。十時，適十獅適市。是時，適施氏適是市。氏視十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。食時，始識十獅實十石獅屍。試釋是事。
- shī shì shí shī shǐ
- 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.
This phrase can be used to tell if someone is drunk or not:
- 四十四头死的石狮子
- Sì shí sì tǒu sǐ de shí shī zi
- (Forty-four dead stone lions)
Czech
- Strč prst skrz krk.
Translation: Stick a finger through your throat.
Note that this sentence has no vowels! - Nesnese se se sestrou.
Translation: He doesn't get on with his sister. - Roli lorda Rolfa hrál Vladimír Leraus.
Translation: The role of lord Rolf was played by VL. - Nenaolejuje-li koleje Julie, naolejuji je já.
Translation: If Julie doesn't oil rails, I will oil them.
Danish
- Rød grød med fløde.
Translation: Red jelly with cream.
Dutch
- De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets.
Translation: The coachman cleans the stagecoach with stagecoach cleaner. - De kat krabt de krullen van de trap met drie droge doeken.
Translation: The cat scratches the woodcurls of the stairs with three dry cloths - De knappe kapper kapt knap, maar de knappe knecht van de knappe kapper kapt knapper dan de knappe kapper kappen kan.
Translation: the clever barber cuts hair well, but the clever helper of the clever barber cuts hair more clever that the clever barber can cut it.
Esperanto
- Ĉu ŝi scias, cxu ĉi-scene la sklavo ŝtelas la sceptron?
Translation: Does she know if the slave steals the sceptre during this scene? - Serpo servu cin por cxerpo el cerbo de serba cervo.
May a billhook serve thee to scoop out a Serbian deer's brain.
Estonian
- Pagari piparkook (repeated).
Translation: Baker's ginger biscuit. - Musta lehma saba valge lehma taga, valge lehma saba musta lehma taga (repeated).
Translation: Black cow's tail behind a white cow, white cow's tail behind a black cow. - Kabli klubi (repeated).
Translation: Club of Kabli. - Asjaajaja ja jaamaülem (repeated, sobriety test).
Translation: Procurator and stationmaster. - Jüriöö ülestõus (jokingly used to determine if a non-native speaker has mastered the difficult accented vowels)
Translation: the Jüriöö upraisal, 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. - Kuulilennuteetunneliluuk.
Translation: The hatch of the tunnel of ballistic trajectory.
Finnish
- Alavilla mailla hallan vaaraa.
Translation: Risk of frost on low-lying lands. - Appilan pappilan apupapin paksuposkipiski pisti poskeensa paksun papupurkin.
Translation: The thick-cheeked dog of the deacon of the rectory of Appila (a name of a place) ate a thick bean can. - Appilan pappilan apupapin papupata pankolla kiehuu ja kuohuu.
Translation: Bean casserole of the deacon of the rectory of Appila (a name of a place) boils and bubbles on the oven. - Appilan pappilan piski paksuposki pakkas kapsäkin ja pinkaisi juoksuun.
Translation: The thick-cheeked dog of the rectory of Appila (a name of a place) packed up a travelling-bag and started running. - Hieno piano. (repeated)
Translation: Fine piano. - Kokoo kokoon koko kokko! Koko kokkoko? Koko kokko.
Translation: Gather up a full bonfire! A full bonfire? A full bonfire. - Mustan kissan paksut posket. (repeated)
Translation: Black cat's thick cheeks. - Pappilan apupapin papupata pankolla kiehuu.
Translation: The rectory's deacon's bean casserole boils on the oven. - Vesihiisi sihisi hississä.
Translation: The water pixie hissed in an elevator. - Ärrän kierrän orren ympäri.
Translation: I twine an 'R' around a purline. - Ääliö, älä lyö, ööliä läikkyy!
Translation: Idiot, don't hit, beer spills! - Riiuuyöaie
Translation: Intention to spend a night wooing women - Hääyöaie
Translation: Intention to spend a wedding night
French
- La roue sur la rue roule; la rue sous la roue reste.
Translation: The wheel on the road rolls; the road under the wheel stays. - Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien de chasse.
Translation: A hunter who knows how to hunt has to know how to hunt without its hunting dog. - Le pipe au papa de Pape Pie pue.
Translation: Pope Pius's dad's pipe stinks. - Si ces saucissons sont bons, ces saucissons-ci sont aussi bons.
Translation: If these 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]
Translation: Basket piano. - Les chausettes de l'archiduchesse sont sèches, archi sèches.
Translation: The archduchess's socks are dry, very dry. - Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.
- Je veux et j'exige du jasmin et des jonquilles.
- Natacha n'attacha pas son chat qui s'échappa.
- Un dragon gradé dégrade un gradé dragon.
- Je suis un original qui ne se désoriginalisera jamais.
German
-
Es klapperten die Klapperschlangen, bis ihre Klappern schlapper klangen. (listen)
Translation: The rattlesnakes rattled until their rattles began to sound exhausted. -
Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische. (listen)
Translation: The Fishers' boy Fritz is fishing for fresh fish. -
Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid, und Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut. (listen)
Translation: bride's dress remains bride's dress, and red cabbage remains red cabbage. -
Der Potsdamer Postkutscher putzt den Potsdamer Postkutschkasten. (listen)
Translation: The driver of the Potsdam stage coach cleans the case of the Potsdam stage coach. -
Im Potsdamer Boxclub boxt der Potsdamer Postbusboss. (listen)
Translation: At the Potsdam boxing club, the boss of the Potsdam post bus is boxing. (Almost works in English too.) -
Der Whiskeymixer mixt den Whiskey mit dem Whiskeymixer. (listen)
Translation: 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".) -
Im dichten Fichtendickicht nicken dicke Fichten tüchtig. (listen)
Translation: In a dense thicket of spruces, thick spruces take a big nap. (Most probable mistake: German ficken means "to fuck"). -
Der Kaplan klebt Pappplakate an die Plakatwand. (listen)
Translation: The chaplain is sticking posters made of heavy card to the notice board. -
Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher. (listen)
Translation: If flies fly behind flies, then flies fly after flies.
-
Dialectal
-
A Mamaladaaama hamma daham aa. (Dialect of Franconia region)
Translation (High German): Ein Marmeladeneimerchen haben wir daheim auch.
Translation (English): A marmalade can, we have at home, too.
-
A Mamaladaaama hamma daham aa. (Dialect of Franconia region)
Greek
- Μια πάπια, μα ποια πάπια; Μια πάπια με παπιά!
Translation: A duck, but which duck? A duck with ducklings!
Hebrew
- גנן גידל דגן בגן, דגן גדול גדל בגן
Translation: A gardner grew a cereal in the garden, a large cereal grew in the garden. - שרה שרה שיר שמח
Translation: Sara sings a happy song. - נחש נשך נחש
Translation: A snake bit a snake - אני לא מהמתמהמהים, אני מהמתמהמהות
Translation: I am not a procrastinator, I am a procrastinating woman. - אישה נעלה נעלה נעלה נעלה את הדלת בפני בעלה
Translation: A nobel woman 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
Translation: 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.
Hungarian
- Öt török öt görögöt dögönyöz örökös örömök között.
Translation: Five Turks are massaging five Greeks amid everlasting delights. - Mit sütsz kis szűcs? Sós húst sütsz kis szücs.
Translation: What are you cooking little furrier? You are cooking salted meat, little furrier. - Te tetted e tettetett tettet, te! Te tettetett tettek tettese, te!
Translation: You! Did you do this false act? You! You are the doer of false acts! - Két pék két szép kék képet kér.
Translation: Two bakers are asking for two nice blue pictures. - Nem minden fajta szarka farka tarka csak a tarka farkú szarka farka tarka.
Translation: Not all kinds of magpies have medley tails, only the medley-tailed kind of magpie has medley tails. - Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért.
(this is the longest hungarian word, kind of untranslatable) Aproximate translation: For the impossibility of you (plural) committing multiple acts of desecration.
Japanese
- Basu gasu bakuhatsu. (バスガス爆発)
Translation: Bus-Gas Explosion. - Toukyou tokkyo kyoka kyoku. (東京特許許可局)
Translation: Tokyo Patents Licensing Office. (No such office exists.)
Korean
- Ganjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Jang gongjangjang-igo doenjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Gang gongjangjang-ida. (간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.)
Translation: The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and the manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang. - Gyeongchalcheong soechangsal oecheolchangsal, geomchalcheong soechangsal ssangcheolchangsal (경찰청 쇠창살 외철창살, 검찰청 쇠창살 쌍철창살)
Translation: 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.
Latin
- Summergimurne?
Translation: Are we sinking? - O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti!
Translation: O you tyrant, Titus Tatius; such things you made happen! (By the poet Ennius) - Si itis cum Iesuitis, non cum Iesu itis.
Translation: If you go with the Jesuits, you are not going with Jesus.
Lithuanian
- Šešios žąsys su šešiais žąsyčiais
Translation:Six geese with six goslings. - Geri vyrai geroj girioj gerą girą gerdami gyrė
Translation:Good guys in good forest drank good kvass while praising it.
Marathi
- Kacha papad, pakka papad [repeated]
Translation: Cooked lentil wafer, raw lentil wafer. - chataila tachni tochli
- LuLi mule baaLe
- chinchaachi chatni (the 2nd and 4th 'ch' sounds are pronounced as 'ts', something difficult for a non-Marathi speaker.)
Norwegian
- Djerv bjergdvergbjerk
Translation: Brave dwarf mountain birch - Ibsens ripsbusker og andre buskvekster
Translation: The redcurrant bushes of Ibsen and other bushy trees. - Veggpapp, takpapp, tapet
Wall board, ceiling board, wallpaper - Upoppa popcorn, papp og papir
Unpopped popcorn, cardboard and paper
Polish
- W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie
- I Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie.
Translation: In [the town of] Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed, for which Szczebrzeszyn is famous.
It is the most popular Polish tongue-twister, first two lines from Chrząszcz poem by Jan Brzechwa, in which almost all of the consonants make some kind of buzzing noises. Often only the first line is used, which is hard enough as a tongue-twister.
- Pójdźże, kiń tę chmurność w głąb flaszy.
Translation: Come on, drop your sadness into the depth of a bottle.
This one is not particularly hard to pronounce, but alphabetically sorting characters in that phrase results in:
- aąbcćdeęfghijklłmnńoóprsśtuwyzźż
which is the entire Polish alphabet with no character used twice.
- Sasza szedł suchą szosą, suszył sobie spodnie.
Transalation: Sasza (name) was going along a dry road while drying his trousers.
- Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami.
Translation: table with legs broken out.
- Wyindywidualizowaliśmy się z rozentuzjazmowanego tłumu.
The phonemes themselves are not hard to pronounce at all, but long words (first one has 11 syllables) makes accents rare, resulting in a flat, accentless, robotic speech.
- Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego.
Translation: King Charles bought for Queen Charlotte coral-coloured corals
In original the k, r and l letters are used as often as in the last three words in English translation which work almost as well as in Polish.
- Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
This is a fictious but possible full name in Polish, from a 1969 Polish comedy How I Unleashed World War II (Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową) directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski , where it was used by main character to confuse German officers asking for his name.
- O szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny
- I pluszcze jednaki, miarowy, niezmienny,
- Dżdżu krople padają i tłuką w me okno...
- Jęk szklany... płacz szklany... a szyby w mgle mokną
- I światła szarego blask sączy się senny...
- O szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny...
A fragment of Deszcz jesienny (Autumn rain) poem by Leopold Staff. The poem sounds very much like raining.
- Przyszedł Herbst z pstrągami i słuchał oszczerstw z wstrętem przeszukując otwory w strzelnicy.
Portuguese
- Três pratos de trigo para três tigres tristes. (repeated).
Translation: Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers. - O rato roeu a rolha da garrafa de rum do rei da Rússia.
Translation: The mouse gnawed the cork of the bottle of rum of the king of Russia. - O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma.
Translation: 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!
Translation: 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.
Translation: 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. - O Papa papa o papo do pato.
Translation: The Pope eats the stomach of the duck. - 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.
Translation: Peter has the black chest. Of black color 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. - - 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.
Translation: - 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.
Romanian
- Eu pup poala popii, popa pupă poala mea (it's easy to mispronounce the word "poala" as a trivial word denoting the male sexual organ)
- Şase saşi în şase saci. (Six Saxons in six sacks)
- Capra calcă piatra, piatra crapă-n patru, crăpa-i-ar capul caprei cum a crăpat piatra-n patru.
- Şase saşi cosaşi cos şase saci săseşti.
- Bucură-te cum s-a bucurat Bucuroaia lui Bucur când Bucur s-a întors bucuros din Bucureşti.
- Saşiul stă pe şasiu şi şuşoteşte.
Russian
- Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Sasha was coming down a highway and sucking on a bread-ring.)
- На дворе трава, на траве дрова. Не руби дрова на траве двора. (In the yard there is grass and on the grass there is firewood. Don't chop firewood on the grass of the yard.)
- Карл у Клары украл кораллы, а Клара у Карла украла кларнет (listen). (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!")
Serbian
- Na vrh brda vrba mrda. (На врх брда врба мрда)
Translation: On top of a hill a willow swings. - Belo jare prolajalo (Бело јаре пролајало)
Translation: White goat kid started to bark. - Raskiseliše li ti se ti opanci? (Раскиселише ли ти се ти опанци)
Translation: Have these opanci (kind of shoes) of yours been well soaked? - 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.)
Translation: 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)
Translation: 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)
Translation: 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 as much as six consonants together). - Шаш деветорошаш, ал' се раздеветорошашио.
- Четири чавчића на чунчићу чучећи цијучу.
- Бела куја пролајала, залајала и одлајала.
Slovenian
- Pešec čez cestišče (IPA: /'pe.ʃəʦ ʧɛs ʦɛ.'sti.ʃʧɛ/)
- Translation: "A pedestrian (goes) over a driveway". If spoken repeteadly, one gets lost in the flurry of "s", "sh", "ts" and "ch" sounds.
- Čmrlj (IPA: /ʧmərlj/)
- Translation: "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 (IPA: /ʧmərlj.'ʃʧi.na/)
- Translation: "The bumble-bee language". This is a made-up word, but it is perfectly understandable and pronouncable in Slovenian. Pronounced as "čmrlj" above, followed by two syllables: "shchi-na".
Spanish
- El arzobispo de Constantinopla se quiere desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizar y el arzobispo que lo desarzobispoconstantinopolitanice buen desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizador será.
Translation: 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 tragan trigo en un trigal.
Translation: Three sad tigers swallow wheat in a wheat field. - La madre y la hija van a misa. La madre pisa paja; la hija paja pisa.
Translation: "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 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.
Translation: 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 (?)
Swedish
- Sex laxar i en laxask.
Translation: Six salmons in a salmon-box. - Packa pappas kappsäck.
Translation: Pack daddy's suitcase. - Sju sjuka sjöman sköttes av sju sköna sjuksköterskor.
Translation: Seven sick seamen were cared for by seven beautiful nurses.- (Variant): Sju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai skölde sju skjortor i sjön.
Translation: Seven seasick seamen on the ship 'Shanghai' washed seven skirts in the sea.
- (Variant): Sju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai skölde sju skjortor i sjön.
- Plocka pepparkorn i en kopparpanna.
Translation: to pick peppercorns in a copper pan. - Västkustskt.
Translations: in the manner pertaining to the West Coast. (the double occurrence of 'st' followed by consonant clusters containing hard k's make this very awkward to pronounce correctly). - Får får får?
Translation: Does sheep give birth to sheep?
-
Dialectal
- I åa ä e ö, å i öa ä e ö (Dialect of Värmland region)
Translation (Swedish): I ån finns det en ö, och på ön finns det en å.
Translation (English): In the stream there is an island, and on the island there is a stream.
- I åa ä e ö, å i öa ä e ö (Dialect of Värmland region)
Vietnamese
- Lặt rau rồi luộc. Translation: Pick/cut the vegetables and boil them.
Xhosa
- Iqaqa laziqikaqika kwaze kwaqhawaka uqhoqhoqha
Translation: The skunk rolled down and ruptured its larynx.
External links
French
- La roue sur la rue roule; la rue sous la roue reste.
Translation: The wheel on the road rolls; the road under the wheel stays. - Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien de chasse.
Translation: A hunter who knows how to hunt has to know how to hunt without its hunting dog. - Le pipe au papa de Pape Pie pue.
Translation: Pope Pius's dad's pipe stinks. - Si ces saucissons sont bons, ces saucissons-ci sont aussi bons.
Translation: If these 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]
Translation: Basket piano. - Les chausettes de l'archiduchesse sont sèches, archi sèches.
Translation: The archduchess's socks are dry, very dry. - Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.
- Je veux et j'exige du jasmin et des jonquilles.
- Natacha n'attacha pas son chat qui s'échappa.
- Un dragon gradé dégrade un gradé dragon.
- Je suis un original qui ne se désoriginalisera jamais.
German
-
Es klapperten die Klapperschlangen, bis ihre Klappern schlapper klangen. (listen)
Translation: The rattlesnakes rattled until their rattles began to sound exhausted. -
Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische. (listen)
Translation: The Fishers' boy Fritz is fishing for fresh fish. -
Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid, und Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut. (listen)
Translation: bride's dress remains bride's dress, and red cabbage remains red cabbage. -
Der Potsdamer Postkutscher putzt den Potsdamer Postkutschkasten. (listen)
Translation: The driver of the Potsdam stage coach cleans the case of the Potsdam stage coach. -
Im Potsdamer Boxclub boxt der Potsdamer Postbusboss. (listen)
Translation: At the Potsdam boxing club, the boss of the Potsdam post bus is boxing. (Almost works in English too.) -
Der Whiskeymixer mixt den Whiskey mit dem Whiskeymixer. (listen)
Translation: 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".) -
Im dichten Fichtendickicht nicken dicke Fichten tüchtig. (listen)
Translation: In a dense thicket of spruces, thick spruces take a big nap. (Most probable mistake: German ficken means "to fuck"). -
Der Kaplan klebt Pappplakate an die Plakatwand. (listen)
Translation: The chaplain is sticking posters made of heavy card to the notice board. -
Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher. (listen)
Translation: If flies fly behind flies, then flies fly after flies.
-
Dialectal
-
A Mamaladaaama hamma daham aa. (Dialect of Franconia region)
Translation (High German): Ein Marmeladeneimerchen haben wir daheim auch.
Translation (English): A marmalade can, we have at home, too.
-
A Mamaladaaama hamma daham aa. (Dialect of Franconia region)
Greek
- Μια πάπια, μα ποια πάπια; Μια πάπια με παπιά!
Translation: A duck, but which duck? A duck with ducklings!
Hebrew
- גנן גידל דגן בגן, דגן גדול גדל בגן
Translation: A gardner grew a cereal in the garden, a large cereal grew in the garden. - שרה שרה שיר שמח
Translation: Sara sings a happy song. - נחש נשך נחש
Translation: A snake bit a snake - אני לא מהמתמהמהים, אני מהמתמהמהות
Translation: I am not a procrastinator, I am a procrastinating woman. - אישה נעלה נעלה נעלה נעלה את הדלת בפני בעלה
Translation: A nobel woman 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
Translation: 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.
Hungarian
- Öt török öt görögöt dögönyöz örökös örömök között.
Translation: Five Turks are massaging five Greeks amid everlasting delights. - Mit sütsz kis szűcs? Sós húst sütsz kis szücs.
Translation: What are you cooking little furrier? You are cooking salted meat, little furrier. - Te tetted e tettetett tettet, te! Te tettetett tettek tettese, te!
Translation: You! Did you do this false act? You! You are the doer of false acts! - Két pék két szép kék képet kér.
Translation: Two bakers are asking for two nice blue pictures. - Nem minden fajta szarka farka tarka csak a tarka farkú szarka farka tarka.
Translation: Not all kinds of magpies have medley tails, only the medley-tailed kind of magpie has medley tails. - Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért.
(this is the longest hungarian word, kind of untranslatable) Aproximate translation: For the impossibility of you (plural) committing multiple acts of desecration.
Japanese
- Basu gasu bakuhatsu. (バスガス爆発)
Translation: Bus-Gas Explosion. - Toukyou tokkyo kyoka kyoku. (東京特許許可局)
Translation: Tokyo Patents Licensing Office. (No such office exists.)
Korean
- Ganjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Jang gongjangjang-igo doenjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Gang gongjangjang-ida. (간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.)
Translation: The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and the manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang. - Gyeongchalcheong soechangsal oecheolchangsal, geomchalcheong soechangsal ssangcheolchangsal (경찰청 쇠창살 외철창살, 검찰청 쇠창살 쌍철창살)
Translation: 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.
Latin
- Summergimurne?
Translation: Are we sinking? - O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti!
Translation: O you tyrant, Titus Tatius; such things you made happen! (By the poet Ennius) - Si itis cum Iesuitis, non cum Iesu itis.
Translation: If you go with the Jesuits, you are not going with Jesus.
Lithuanian
- Šešios žąsys su šešiais žąsyčiais
Translation:Six geese with six goslings. - Geri vyrai geroj girioj gerą girą gerdami gyrė
Translation:Good guys in good forest drank good kvass while praising it.
Marathi
- Kacha papad, pakka papad [repeated]
Translation: Cooked lentil wafer, raw lentil wafer. - chataila tachni tochli
- LuLi mule baaLe
- chinchaachi chatni (the 2nd and 4th 'ch' sounds are pronounced as 'ts', something difficult for a non-Marathi speaker.)
Norwegian
- Djerv bjergdvergbjerk
Translation: Brave dwarf mountain birch - Ibsens ripsbusker og andre buskvekster
Translation: The redcurrant bushes of Ibsen and other bushy trees.
Polish
- W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie
- I Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie.
Translation: In [the town of] Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed, for which Szczebrzeszyn is famous.
It is the most popular Polish tongue-twister, first two lines from Chrząszcz poem by Jan Brzechwa, in which almost all of the consonants make some kind of buzzing noises. Often only the first line is used, which is hard enough as a tongue-twister.
- Pójdźże, kiń tę chmurność w głąb flaszy.
Translation: Come on, drop your sadness into the depth of a bottle.
This one is not particularly hard to pronounce, but alphabetically sorting characters in that phrase results in:
- aąbcćdeęfghijklłmnńoóprsśtuwyzźż
which is the entire Polish alphabet with no character used twice.
- Sasza szedł suchą szosą, suszył sobie spodnie.
Transalation: Sasza (name) was going along a dry road while drying his trousers.
- Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami.
Translation: table with legs broken out.
- Wyindywidualizowaliśmy się z rozentuzjazmowanego tłumu.
The phonemes themselves are not hard to pronounce at all, but long words (first one has 11 syllables) makes accents rare, resulting in a flat, accentless, robotic speech.
- Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego.
Translation: King Charles bought for Queen Charlotte coral-coloured corals
In original the k, r and l letters are used as often as in the last three words in English translation which work almost as well as in Polish.
- Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
This is a fictious but possible full name in Polish, from a 1969 Polish comedy How I Unleashed World War II (Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową) directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski , where it was used by main character to confuse German officers asking for his name.
- O szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny
- I pluszcze jednaki, miarowy, niezmienny,
- Dżdżu krople padają i tłuką w me okno...
- Jęk szklany... płacz szklany... a szyby w mgle mokną
- I światła szarego blask sączy się senny...
- O szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny...
A fragment of Deszcz jesienny (Autumn rain) poem by Leopold Staff. The poem sounds very much like raining.
- Przyszedł Herbst z pstrągami i słuchał oszczerstw z wstrętem przeszukując otwory w strzelnicy.
Portuguese
- Três pratos de trigo para três tigres tristes. (repeated).
Translation: Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers. - O rato roeu a rolha da garrafa de rum do rei da Rússia.
Translation: The mouse gnawed the cork of the bottle of rum of the king of Russia. - O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma.
Translation: 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!
Translation: 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.
Translation: 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. - O Papa papa o papo do pato.
Translation: The Pope eats the stomach of the duck. - 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.
Translation: Peter has the black chest. Of black color 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. - - 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.
Translation: - 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.
Romanian
- Eu pup poala popii, popa pupă poala mea (it's easy to mispronounce the word "poala" as a trivial word denoting the male sexual organ)
- Şase saşi în şase saci. (Six Saxons in six sacks)
- Capra calcă piatra, piatra crapă-n patru, crăpa-i-ar capul caprei cum a crăpat piatra-n patru.
- Şase saşi cosaşi cos şase saci săseşti.
- Bucură-te cum s-a bucurat Bucuroaia lui Bucur când Bucur s-a întors bucuros din Bucureşti.
- Saşiul stă pe şasiu şi şuşoteşte.
Russian
- Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Sasha was coming down a highway and sucking on a bread-ring.)
- На дворе трава, на траве дрова. Не руби дрова на траве двора. (In the yard there is grass and on the grass there is firewood. Don't chop firewood on the grass of the yard.)
- Карл у Клары украл кораллы, а Клара у Карла украла кларнет (listen). (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!")
Serbian
- Na vrh brda vrba mrda. (На врх брда врба мрда)
Translation: On top of a hill a willow swings. - Belo jare prolajalo (Бело јаре пролајало)
Translation: White goat kid started to bark. - Raskiseliše li ti se ti opanci? (Раскиселише ли ти се ти опанци)
Translation: Have these opanci (kind of shoes) of yours been well soaked? - 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.)
Translation: 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)
Translation: 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)
Translation: 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 as much as six consonants together). - Шаш деветорошаш, ал' се раздеветорошашио.
- Четири чавчића на чунчићу чучећи цијучу.
- Бела куја пролајала, залајала и одлајала.
Slovenian
- Pešec čez cestišče (IPA: /'pe.ʃəʦ ʧɛs ʦɛ.'sti.ʃʧɛ/)
- Translation: "A pedestrian (goes) over a driveway". If spoken repeteadly, one gets lost in the flurry of "s", "sh", "ts" and "ch" sounds.
- Čmrlj (IPA: /ʧmərlj/)
- Translation: "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 (IPA: /ʧmərlj.'ʃʧi.na/)
- Translation: "The bumble-bee language". This is a made-up word, but it is perfectly understandable and pronouncable in Slovenian. Pronounced as "čmrlj" above, followed by two syllables: "shchi-na".
Spanish
- El arzobispo de Constantinopla se quiere desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizar y el arzobispo que lo desarzobispoconstantinopolitanice buen desarzobispoconstantinopolitanizador será.
Translation: 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 tragan trigo en un trigal.
Translation: Three sad tigers swallow wheat in a wheat field. - La madre y la hija van a misa. La madre pisa paja; la hija paja pisa.
Translation: "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 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.
Translation: 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 (?)
Swedish
- Sex laxar i en laxask.
Translation: Six salmons in a salmon-box. - Packa pappas kappsäck.
Translation: Pack daddy's suitcase. - Sju sjuka sjöman sköttes av sju sköna sjuksköterskor.
Translation: Seven sick seamen were cared for by seven beautiful nurses.- (Variant): Sju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai skölde sju skjortor i sjön.
Translation: Seven seasick seamen on the ship 'Shanghai' washed seven skirts in the sea.
- (Variant): Sju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai skölde sju skjortor i sjön.
- Plocka pepparkorn i en kopparpanna.
Translation: to pick peppercorns in a copper pan. - Västkustskt.
Translations: in the manner pertaining to the West Coast. (the double occurrence of 'st' followed by consonant clusters containing hard k's make this very awkward to pronounce correctly). - Får får får?
Translation: Does sheep give birth to sheep?
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Dialectal
- I åa ä e ö, å i öa ä e ö (Dialect of Värmland region)
Translation (Swedish): I ån finns det en ö, och på ön finns det en å.
Translation (English): In the stream there is an island, and on the island there is a stream.
- I åa ä e ö, å i öa ä e ö (Dialect of Värmland region)
Vietnamese
- Lặt rau rồi luộc. Translation: Pick/cut the vegetables and boil them.
Xhosa
- Iqaqa laziqikaqika kwaze kwaqhawaka uqhoqhoqha
Translation: The skunk rolled down and ruptured its larynx.
External links
Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45