На дворе трава, на траве дрова. (Na dvore trava, na trave drova.)
Meaning: A short but nasty 'tr/dr' blend — the consonant clusters that trip up every learner of Russian.
Language: Russian
Literally: In the yard there is grass; on the grass there is firewood.
Category: Warm-up
Origin: Russia's gentlest tongue twister and one of the first taught to children.
More tongue twisters — Warm-up
- 四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。(Sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí.) — A pure sì/shí tone drill — the two numbers are near-identical and the tones swap each tim…
- De kat krabt de krullen van de trap. — A 'kr' cluster drill — Dutch consonant pileups that beginners approach with dread.
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- Sex laxar i en laxask. — A short 'x/lax/ks' crunch — Swedish's 'x' sounds like 'ks', which doubles the trap.
- Capra neagră sare piatra, piatra-i neagră, capra-i albă. — A rapid 'c/pr/n' alternation that gains speed — and the colour-swap at the end trips the…
- Ular melingkar-lingkar di atas pagar pak Umar. — A rolling 'l / r / ling' drill that loops like the snake it describes.
More Russian tongue twisters
- Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku.) — A merciless 'sh/s/ss' collision — Sasha walking, sucking, and all those sibilants.
- Карл у Клары украл кораллы, Клара у Карла украла кларнет. (Karl u Klary ukral korally, Klara u Karla ukrala klarnet.) — A 'kl/kr/r' drama — crime, countercrimes, and consonant clusters all at once.
- Корабли лавировали, лавировали, да не вылавировали. (Korabli lavirovali, lavirovali, da ne vylavirovali.) — One verb, three inflections, pure 'lav/vir' torture — the word grows with every repetitio…
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