Tongue twisters (trabalenguas) are a great way to practise your pronunciation. Sometimes they're a bit nonsensical but that's part of their charm. Here are some of our favourite ones at Speak Spanish Like a Native. See how fast you can say them!
Juan tuvo un tubo, y el tubo que tuvo se le rompió, y para recuperar el tubo que tuvo, tuvo que comprar un tubo igual al tubo que tuvo.
Juan had a tube, and the tube that he had broke, and in order to get back the tube that he had, he had to buy a tube exactly the same as the one he had before.
Pablito clavó un clavito, un clavito clavó Pablito. ¿Qué clase de clavito clavó Pablito?
Pablito hammered a nail, a nail that Pablito hammered. What type of nail did Pablito hammer?
Como poco coco como poco coco compro.
I eat little coconut and little coconut do I buy.
Poquito a poquito Paquito empaca poquitas copitas en pocos paquetes.
Little by little Paquito packs a few glasses in a few packets.
El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramirez se lo ha robado.
San Roque’s dog doesn’t have a tail because Ramón Ramirez robbed it from him.
El cielo está enladrillado. Quién lo desenladrillará? El desenladrillador que lo desenladrille, buen desenladrillador será.
The sky is paved with bricks. Who will unpave it? The ‘unpaver’ who unpaves it, a great ‘unpaver’ they will be.
Tres tristes tigres comen trigo en un trigal. Tanto trigo tragan que los tres tigres tragones con el trigo se atragantan.
Three sad tigers eat wheat in a wheat field. So much wheat did they swallow that the three swallowing tigers choked on the wheat.
Tan caro es ese carro, que por caro no compro el carro.
So expensive is that car, that (being so expensive) I won’t buy it.
How did you do? Soon we'll upload an audio so you can see how we got on. Share your attempts with us on social media if you like :)
Get the book
If you liked this article check out our new book, How to Speak Spanish like a Native, which is due to be published very soon. It's your complete guide to mastering the Spanish language and speaking like a native. Everything in the blog and more!
