Spanish tongue twisters

Tres tristes tigrestragaban trigo en un trigal.

“Three sad tigers swallowed wheat in a wheat field” (un trigal is a wheat field).

Great for chaining the “tr” cluster: tres, tristes, tigres, trigo, trigal.

Pablito clavó un clavito.¿Qué clavito clavó Pablito?

“Little Pablo hammered a little nail. Which little nail did Pablito hammer?” The fun is repeating “clav-” without stumbling.

Drills the “cl” and “bl” clusters and the “-ito” ending.

El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo,porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha cortado.

“Saint Roque’s dog has no tail (rabo), because Ramón Ramírez cut it off.”

Excellent for the rolled r: perro, Roque, rabo, Ramón, Ramírez.

Compadre, cómprame un coco.No compro coco porque como poco coco.Como poco coco como, poco coco compro.

“Friend (compadre), buy me a coconut. I don’t buy coconut because I eat little coconut. I eat little coconut, so I buy little coconut.”

Plays with “co”, “com” and “cr”: compadre, cómprame, compro, coco, como.

Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico.Con un pico pica papas Pepe Pecas.

“Pepe Pecas chops potatoes (papas) with a pick. With a pick, Pepe Pecas chops potatoes.”

Good for the rhythm and the “p”, “pi” and “pa” sounds: Pepe, Pecas, pica, papas, pico.

Pancha plancha con cuatro planchas.¿Con cuántas planchas plancha Pancha?

“Pancha irons with four irons. With how many irons does Pancha iron?” (planchar = to iron).

Drills “pl” and “ch” and a fast question rhythm: Pancha, plancha, planchas.

Erre con erre cigarro,erre con erre barril.Rápido ruedan los carroscargados de azúcar del ferrocarril.

It imitates a train: “R with r, cigar; r with r, barrel. The carts loaded with sugar from the railway roll quickly.”

The classic workout for the rolled rr: carro, barril, ferrocarril.

Cuando cuentes cuentos,cuenta cuántos cuentos cuentas,porque si no cuentas cuántos cuentos cuentas,nunca sabrás cuántos cuentos cuentas.

A play on contar (to count / to tell): “When you tell stories, count how many stories you tell, because if you don’t count how many stories you tell, you’ll never know how many stories you tell.”

Masters “cu”, “cue” and “cuen”: cuando, cuentes, cuentos, cuenta, cuántos.

El cielo está enladrillado.¿Quién lo desenladrillará?El desenladrillador que lo desenladrille,buen desenladrillador será.

“The sky is bricked over. Who will un-brick it? The un-bricker who un-bricks it will be a good un-bricker.”

A long-syllable challenge with “-ladrill-”: enladrillado, desenladrillará, desenladrillador.