{"id":117217,"date":"2023-12-07T10:41:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/french-tongue-twisters\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T04:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T09:50:19","slug":"french-tongue-twisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/french-tongue-twisters\/","title":{"rendered":"32 Challenging French Tongue Twisters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tongue twisters, or virelangues<\/em> in French, can also be a great way to learn a language.<\/p>\n

They force you to slow down and really pronounce each syllable and each word. Only then can you move onto saying the entire French tongue twister in one go.<\/p>\n

A great side effect of reading these classic tongue twisters is that they’ll improve your pronunciation and they’ll help you to speak lightning fast French like the natives. After all, French children used them, too!<\/p>\n

Read on for 32 French tongue twisters for beginners, intermediate learners and then some advanced ones, all with audio so you can hear them pronounced correctly.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

French Tongue Twisters for Beginners<\/h2>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

You’ve got to start somewhere with French tongue twisters, so these relatively easy beginner level phrases are a great place to start. Remember: pronounce every word correctly before moving on to the next word. Then read them again until they sound smooth and clear.<\/p>\n

1. Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.<\/em><\/h3>\n

If my uncle shaves your uncle, your uncle will be shaven.<\/p>\n

This tongue twister capitalizes on the similarities between ton <\/em>(your) tonton <\/em>(uncle) and tond <\/em>(to shave). These three words are pronounced exactly the same in French, so the sentence calls for nine repetitions of the same sound at once.<\/p>\n

2. Cinq chiens chassent six chats.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Five dogs hunt six cats.<\/p>\n

This sentence offers an additional difficulty for non-native speakers with the introduction of nasal sounds. French has four nasal sounds, and this sentence introduces two of them with cinq <\/em>and chiens.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Un chasseur sachant chasser sait chasser sans son chien.<\/em><\/h3>\n

A hunter who knows how to hunt can hunt without his dog.<\/p>\n

4. Les chaussettes de l’archiduchesse sont-elles s\u00e8ches, archi-s\u00e8ches ?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Are the archduchess’s socks dry, very dry?<\/p>\n

5. Trois tortues trottaient sur un trottoir tr\u00e8s \u00e9troit.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Three turtles were trotting on a very narrow sidewalk.<\/p>\n

6. Combien de pi\u00e8ces sont cach\u00e9es dans cette soucoupe ?<\/em><\/h3>\n

How many coins are hidden in this saucer?<\/p>\n

7. Les \u0153ufs frais sont frais, les \u0153ufs cuits sont cuits.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Fresh eggs are fresh, cooked eggs are cooked.<\/p>\n

8. Qui sont ces six singes suisses?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Who are these six Swiss monkeys?<\/p>\n

9. Quand un pingouin prend un go\u00fbter, les autres pingouins prennent un go\u00fbter, et \u00e7a fait beaucoup de go\u00fbters pour les pingouins.<\/em><\/h3>\n

When one penguin has a snack, the other penguins have a snack, and that makes a lot of snacks for the penguins.<\/p>\n

10. Vingt vins blancs bien sucr\u00e9s.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Twenty very sweet white wines.<\/p>\n

11. Si ces six saucissons-ci sont si secs, ces six saucissons-ci sont donc des saucissons secs.<\/em><\/h3>\n

If these six sausages are so dry, then these six sausages are dry sausages.<\/p>\n

12. Un ver vert va vers le verre vert.<\/em><\/h3>\n

A green worm goes towards the green glass.<\/p>\n

13. Six chiens chassent six chats sous six ch\u00eanes verts.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Six dogs chase six cats under six green oaks.<\/p>\n

14. Le bl\u00e9 s\u00e8che, le bl\u00e9 cir\u00e9.<\/em><\/h3>\n

The wheat dries, the waxed wheat.<\/p>\n

15. Son chat chante sa chanson.
\n<\/em><\/h3>\n

His cat sings his song<\/p>\n

Here’s a great short video featuring six classic beginner French tongue twisters, pronounced by a native:<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Fun French Tongue Twisters for Intermediate Learners<\/h2>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

If the tongue twisters in our beginners section are starting to seem easy, move on to trying to pronounce these intermediate level French tongue twisters.<\/p>\n

16. Je suis ce que<\/strong> je suis, et si je suis ce<\/strong> que je suis, qu’est-ce que je suis ?<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

I am what I am, and if I am what I am, what am I ?<\/p>\n

Instead of having several words containing the same sound, this sentence repeats several words in different orders. Je<\/em>\u00a0(I), suis<\/em>\u00a0(am), ce<\/em>\u00a0(that), que<\/em>\u00a0(which), qu’est-ce<\/em>\u00a0(what), si<\/em> (if).<\/p>\n

17. As-tu vu le ver vert allant vers le verre en verre vert ?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Did you see the green worm going towards the green glass glass ?<\/p>\n

This tongue twister operates on the same principle as the previous one\u2014vert <\/em>(green), ver <\/em>(worm) and vers <\/em>(towards) are all pronounced the same way.<\/p>\n

18. Ces cerises sont si s\u00fbres qu’on ne sait pas si c’en sont.<\/em><\/h3>\n

These cherries are so sour, we’re not sure if they are (cherries).<\/p>\n

The ss <\/em>sound appears yet again, though this time it isn’t paired with the sh <\/em>sound but rather with a variety of vowels. Of particular interest for non-native speakers is the c’en sont<\/em>\u00a0at the end of the sentence, which is a false homophone pair for some languages.<\/p>\n

19. Cinq gros rats grillent dans la grosse graisse grasse.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Five fat rats grill in the big, fatty fat.<\/p>\n

Even in English this one is hard to say! We’ve abandoned the ss <\/em>sound for one of the French sounds that’s hardest for Anglophone learners to produce: R.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In this case, it’s often paired with G\u00a0<\/em>for a GR<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>sound that repeats with several different vowel sounds. Practice this one, and your merci <\/em>will sound native before too long!<\/p>\n

20. Fruits cuits, fruits crus, c’est s\u00fbr, c’est tr\u00e8s s\u00fbr.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Cooked fruits, raw fruits, it’s sure, it’s very sure.<\/p>\n

21. Quand un crocodile rencontre un crabe, il lui craque la carapace, et quand un crabe rencontre un crocodile, il lui coupe la queue.<\/em><\/h3>\n

When a crocodile meets a crab, it cracks its shell, and when a crab meets a crocodile, it cuts its tail.<\/p>\n

22. Trois gros rats gris dans trois gros trous ronds rongent trois gros morceaux de pain rond.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Three big gray rats in three big round holes gnaw on three big pieces of round bread.<\/p>\n

23. Je suis ce que je suis et si je suis ce que je suis, qu’est-ce que je suis ?<\/em><\/h3>\n

I am what I am, and if I am what I am, what am I?<\/p>\n

24. \u00a0Cinq gros corbeaux sur le dos de cinq gros chevaux dans les champs.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Five big crows on the back of five big horses in the fields.<\/p>\n

25. Pauvre petit p\u00eacheur, prends patience pour pouvoir prendre plusieurs petits poissons.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Poor little fisherman, have patience to catch several little fish.<\/p>\n

To hear some more intermediate French tongue twisters pronounced, check out this helpful video:<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Advanced French Tongue Twisters<\/h2>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Once you’ve gotten the hang of the tongue twisters for beginners and intermediate learners, it’s time for a new challenge!<\/p>\n

26. Je veux et j’exige du jasmin et des jonquilles.<\/em><\/h3>\n

I want and I insist upon jasmine and jonquils.<\/p>\n

This one has a lot going for it in terms of difficulty. From the very beginning, a liaison <\/em>is required between je veux <\/em>and j’exige, <\/em>so that the sentence sneaks another z <\/em>sound into the end of veux.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

27. Ces six saucissons secs sont si secs qu’on ne sait si c’en sont.<\/em><\/h3>\n

These six dried sausages are so dry that we don’t know if they are (dried sausages).<\/p>\n

28. Un chasseur sachant chasser chasse sans son chien.<\/em><\/h3>\n

A hunter who knows how to hunt hunts without his dog.<\/p>\n

This tongue twister is a more advanced version of one we’ve seen earlier – the one with dogs hunting cats. If you’ve perfected the earlier version, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things!<\/p>\n

29. Je dis que tu l’as dit \u00e0 Didi ce que j’ai dit jeudi.<\/em><\/h3>\n

I say that you said [it] to Didi what I said Thursday.<\/p>\n

30. La roue sur la rue roule; la rue sous la roue reste.<\/em><\/h3>\n

The wheel on the road rolls; the road under the wheel rests.<\/p>\n

31. Bonjour madame la saucissi\u00e8re, combien vendez-vous ces six saucisses-l\u00e0 ? Je les vends six sous, six sous ci, six sous \u00e7a, six sous ces six saucisses-l\u00e0.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Good day madam sausage-seller, how much are those six sausages? I sell them for six sous [old French monetary unit], six sous here, six sous there, six sous the sausages there.<\/p>\n

32. Je suis ce que je suis et si je suis ce que je suis, qu’est-ce que je suis ?<\/em><\/h3>\n

I follow what I am and if I follow what I am, what am I\/what am I following?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s a great video on advanced French tongue twisters:<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

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