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Pablito clavó un clavito, ¿qué clavito clavó Pablito?

Meaning: A bouncy drill on the 'cl' cluster.

Language: Spanish

Literally: Little Pablo nailed a little nail; which little nail did Pablo nail?

Category: Warm-up

Origin: Classic Spanish children's twister.

More tongue twisters — Warm-up

  • 赤パジャマ黄パジャマ茶パジャマ (Aka pajama, ki pajama, cha pajama) — A rapid-fire drill on colour words; the syllable shift from aka/ki/cha trips the tongue b…
  • 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.
  • Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
  • Zehn zahme Ziegen ziehen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo. — A sustained 'z' / 'ts' drill — every word starts with the same affricate.
  • Tigre contro tigre, tigre contro un'altra tigre. — Pure 't/ig/re' drill — short and merciless; the double-g demands a crisp Italian stop.

More Spanish tongue twisters

  • 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'.
  • 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.
  • 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…

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