O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto.

Meaning: An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.

Literally: The rat gnawed the King of Rome's clothes; the queen in rage gnawed the rest.

Origin: The most famous Portuguese tongue twister, known across Portugal and Brazil.

More Portuguese tongue twisters

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.
A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha. Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter…

Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.

Puxe Actually means 'pull' — the imperative of puxar. The door sign telling you to push says e…
Esquisito Actually means 'strange', 'weird' or 'odd'. For exquisite, say requintado.
Livraria Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is uma biblioteca.

Keep exploring