El cielo está enladrillado, ¿quién lo desenladrillará?
Meaning: A brutal test of the rolled 'r' and 'l'.
Language: Spanish
Literally: The sky is bricked; who will un-brick it?
Category: Fiendish
Origin: An advanced Spanish twister.
More tongue twisters — Fiendish
- Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid. — A 'bl' / 'br' brain-twister.
- Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento tutti e trentatré trotterellando. — An unbroken stampede of 'tr' and 't'.
- 東京特許許可局 (Tōkyō tokkyo kyokakyoku) — A machine-gun of 'kyo' / 'kyoku' sounds.
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ (Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da) — A tricky spiral on ka/ki/ku that accelerates as you try to keep the syllables distinct.
- Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril; rápido ruedan los carros sobre los rieles del ferrocarril. — The definitive Spanish rr drill — unrelenting double-r from start to finish.
More Spanish tongue twisters
- Como poco coco como, poco coco compro. — A bouncy 'co' drill — the word order and meaning flip with each repetition.
- Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico. ¿Con qué pico pica papas Pepe Pecas? — A bouncy 'p' cluster that accelerates with the question at the end.
- El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha robado. — A rolled-'r' workout — every word demands the vibrating trill.
- Parangaricutirimícuaro — Not a sentence but a single word — a legendary 22-letter pronunciation challenge from a r…
- Pablito clavó un clavito, ¿qué clavito clavó Pablito? — A bouncy drill on the 'cl' cluster.
- Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. — A relentless run on the 'tr' sound.
From our false friends
- Lectura — Actually means 'reading'. A lecture is una conferencia.
- Compromiso — Actually means 'commitment', 'obligation', or 'engagement'. For a negotiated compromise,…
- Gracioso — Actually means 'funny' or 'amusing'. For gracious (kind and polite), say amable.