El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha robado.
Meaning: A rolled-'r' workout — every word demands the vibrating trill.
Language: Spanish
Literally: Saint Roque's dog has no tail because Ramón Ramírez has stolen it.
Category: Tricky
Origin: A beloved Spanish-speaking world drill for mastering the rolled r.
More tongue twisters — Tricky
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach. — Fliegen means 'flies' (insects), 'to fly', and 'flying' — all at once, relentlessly.
- Der Cottbuser Postkutscher putzt den Cottbuser Postkutschkasten. — A jaw-breaking compound-noun 'ts/tsch/sch' marathon — the German love of compound words w…
- Apelle figlio di Apollo fece una palla di pelle di pollo e tutti i principi della città di Capua la palpeggiarono. — A wall of 'p/ll/l/a' that seems to grow longer as you speak it faster.
- Se la serpe si avvicina alla siepe del serpente, il serpente scappa dalla siepe. — A sibilant 's/se/si/sci' minefield; both words (serpe and serpente) slither through the s…
More Spanish tongue twisters
- 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.
- 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.
- El cielo está enladrillado, ¿quién lo desenladrillará? — A brutal test of the rolled 'r' and 'l'.
- Como poco coco como, poco coco compro. — A bouncy 'co' drill — the word order and meaning flip with each repetition.