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.)
Meaning: A pure sì/shí tone drill — the two numbers are near-identical and the tones swap each time.
Language: Mandarin
Literally: Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty.
Category: Warm-up
Origin: The most-used Mandarin beginner twister; distinguishing sì (4) from shí (10) is fundamental.
More tongue twisters — Warm-up
- 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.
- なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago) — A nimble warm-up for the Japanese 'na / ma / ge' syllables.
More Mandarin tongue twisters
- 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…
- 黑化肥发黑会挥发；灰化肥发灰会挥发。(Hēihuàféi fā hēi huì huīfā; huīhuàféi fā huī huì huīfā.) — A 'hēi/huī/huì/fā' four-tone minefield — the tones alone change every meaning.
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