Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku.)
Meaning: A merciless 'sh/s/ss' collision — Sasha walking, sucking, and all those sibilants.
Language: Russian
Literally: Sasha walked along the highway sucking a dry ring-bread.
Category: Tricky
Origin: One of Russia's most-quoted twisters; a staple of Russian language diction.
More tongue twisters — Tricky
- 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.
- W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie. — The opening of a poem by Julian Tuwim, now Poland's most-quoted tongue twister — the cons…
- 吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮。(Chī pútao bù tǔ pútao pí, bù chī pútao dào tǔ pútao pí.) — A 'pú/tǔ/pí' drill with reversing logic — the negations flip the meaning as the tongue tr…
- Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna. — The same noun/verb homograph trap as the German version — vliegen does triple duty.
- 간장 공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장 공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다. (Ganjang gongjang gongjangjang eun Jang gongjangjang igo, doenjang gongjang gongjangjang eun Gang gongjangjang ida.) — A 'gong/jang/gang' syllable storm — the two surnames (Jang/Gang) swap while the rest stay…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
More Russian tongue twisters
- 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…
- Ехал Грека через реку, видит Грека — в реке рак. (Yekhal Greka cherez reku, vidit Greka — v reke rak.) — A rolling 'r/k' drill where Greka, reku and rak keep trading the same two consonants.
- От топота копыт пыль по полю летит. (Ot topota kopyt pyl po polyu letit.) — A 'p/t' hammering that imitates the hoofbeats it describes.
- Четыре чёрненьких чумазеньких чертёнка чертили чёрными чернилами чертёж. (Chetyre chyornenkikh chumazenkikh chertyonka chertili chyornymi chernilami chertyozh.) — Seven consecutive words built on 'ch' — Russian's ч in every stressed position with barel…
- На дворе трава, на траве дрова. (Na dvore trava, na trave drova.) — A short but nasty 'tr/dr' blend — the consonant clusters that trip up every learner of Ru…
From our compliments & insults
- У тебя золотые руки (u tebya zolotye ruki) — You're extraordinarily skilled — able to make or fix anything with your hands.
- Золотые руки (Zolotye ruki) — You're wonderfully skilled with your hands — a true master at making and fixing things.
- Без царя в голове (Bez tsarya v golove) — Foolish and reckless — with no one in charge upstairs.