Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal.
Meaning: A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.
Language: Portuguese
Literally: One tiger, two tigers, three sad tigers nibble wheat in a wheatfield.
Category: Tricky
Origin: The classic Portuguese tiger twister, harder than it first appears.
More tongue twisters — Tricky
- 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.
- 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…
More Portuguese tongue twisters
- 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…
- O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. — An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.