Tongue twisterTricky
Portuguese
PortugueseA aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha.
Meaning: Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter apart, two different sounds.
Literally: The spider scratches the frog. The frog scratches the spider.
Origin: A well-known Portuguese pairing that drills the language's two distinct r sounds.
More Portuguese tongue twisters
- O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.
- Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal. A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.
- O papa papava o papo do pipo; o pipo papava o papo do papa. A perfectly palindromic 'p' construction that reverses meaning when you swap the nouns.
- O peito do pé de Pedro é preto. Five 'p' words in a row, with the vowels shifting underneath each one.
Explore another collection: Idioms
Colorful expressions from dozens of languages, with their word-for-word translations.
- Acertar na mosca To be exactly right; to hit the bullseye.
- Dar com os burros n'água To fail despite all your effort.
- Tirar o pai da forca Said of something done in frantic urgency.
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