Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten.

Meaning: Five words carrying the Dutch guttural 'cht', the sound foreigners find hardest to produce at all.

Language: Dutch

Literally: We long for eighty-eight magnificent nights.

Category: Fiendish

Origin: A Dutch classic used precisely because the harsh ch defeats most non-native speakers.

More tongue twisters — Fiendish

• Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
• El cielo está enladrillado, ¿quién lo desenladrillará? — A brutal test of the rolled 'r' and 'l'.
• Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid. — A 'bl' / 'br' brain-twister.
• Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento tutti e trentatré trotterellando. — An unbroken stampede of 'tr' and 't'.
• 東京特許許可局 (Tōkyō tokkyo kyokakyoku) — A machine-gun of 'kyo' / 'kyoku' sounds.
• Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.

More Dutch tongue twisters

• Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan. — Eight consecutive l-words, with the vowel behind the l changing every time.
• De kat krabt de krullen van de trap. — A 'kr' cluster drill — Dutch consonant pileups that beginners approach with dread.
• Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna. — The same noun/verb homograph trap as the German version — vliegen does triple duty.
• De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets. — Turns on the gap between the Dutch 'oe' and 'o', with a run of 'ts' and 'p' stops layered…

← Back to Tongue Twisters

Loading the full interactive collection…