50 TONGUE TWISTERS in English for pronunciation practice

Video Transcript

Hello!

Today is International Tongue Twister Day, so what better way to celebrate than with fifty tongue twisters? This lesson is going to get crazy and messy, but it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. I’ll explain what is a tongue twister and how can tongue twisters help you with your pronunciation. Then we’ll go through fifty tongue twisters together.

If you want to download the complete list of all of these tongue twisters to help you practise, click on the link down in the description below. If you add your email, I’ll shoot it through to your email inbox straight away.

So what is a tongue twister and can they really improve your pronunciation? Yes, absolutely. A tongue twister is a phrase or a sentence that is difficult to say, usually because a lot of the sounds are repeated and they’re similar sounds. And the reason why they’re so hard is because you’re supposed to say them quickly and accurately without stumbling over your words and getting tongue-tied, but that’s part of the fun.

Now the meaning of tongue twisters, well, they’re often completely ridiculous. They’re not meant to be understood. Instead, think of them as a tool to help you get repeated practice with specific sounds. And yes, tongue twisters have long been used to perfect people’s speech. Actors, TV presenters, public speakers, they often use them to warm up and to practise articulating their sounds clearly, ready for their performance.

And tongue twisters can certainly help you to practise and improve your pronunciation as well. Regular practice will increase your clarity and articulation of English sounds. You are definitely going to feel it after you practise with me through this video today. You’re going feel just how hard your tongue and your lips and your cheeks have been working trying to articulate those sounds. So you have every reason to be right here with me today practising tongue twisters.

Make sure you bookmark this video, like it, you share it with your friends. We are celebrating International Tongue Twister Day after all.

Every tongue twister that we go through, I’m going to do it slowly first. You can stop, you can pause, you can repeat it as many times as you like and then I’m going to take a deep breath and try and say it as fast as I can and I will definitely mess it up but like I said, that’s part of the fun!

Make sure you write down the ones where you get really stuck, because these are the ones that you need to spend more time working on. So slow down. It’s not a race, you are in control.

1. A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped.

2. Cooks cook cupcakes quickly.

3. Gobbling gargoyles gobbled gobbling goblins.

4. Scissors sizzle thistles sizzle.

5. She sells seashells by the sea seashore.

6. Selfish shellfish.

Ready?

7. She sees cheese.

Let’s pick up the pace.

8. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

9. He threw three free throws.

Pick it up.

10. I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you.

11. English can be understood through tough, thorough thought though.

12. Thirty-three thirsty thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.

Ready to pick it up?

13. The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.

Let’s pick up the pace.

Alright, now let’s focus on the /w/ sound.

14. Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.

Three times.

Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.

This one’s a classic.

15. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Three times.

16. I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.

Alright, now let’s focus on the /f/ sound.

17. Fourty-four fine fresh fish for you.

Three times.

Fourty-four fine fresh fish for you.

Oh gosh.

This one I get stuck on.

18. Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.

Faster.

19. Eleven benevolent elephants.

Three times.

Alright, now let’s focus on /r/ and /l/.

20. Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

21. Lindy Lou Lambert loves lemon lollipop lip gloss.

It’s a classic.

22. Red lorry, yellow lorry.

23. Really leery, rarely Larry.

24. Lucky rabbits like to cause a ruckus.

25. Truly rural.

26. Willy’s real rear wheel.

I can’t.

27. Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier, were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.

Faster.

28. Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

Faster. Yes!

29. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?

It’s playing on how was he when spoken quickly sounds like Wuzzy. Let’s go faster.

Oh gosh, this one gets me. It looks simple.

30. Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.

Let’s pick up the pace.

Oh no, it was this one that I was getting stuck on. No need to light a nightlight on a – I can’t even do it slowly.

31. No need to light a nightlight on a light night like tonight.

Can I do it three times?

I don’t think that counts. Did you get it?

32. You know New York, you need New York. You know you need unique New York.

Faster.

Alright, let’s practise some vowel sounds now. Alright, try this one.

33. Betty Botter bought some butter.

34 The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.

Faster. Three times. They do.

35. Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.

Okay, this one’s ridiculous.

36. Birdie birdie in the sky, laid a turdie in my eye.

Faster.

37. Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

See if you can link those words together. Picked a peck of. Let’s go! That was not right!

Alright, now we’re going to focus on some consonant clusters. These are going to get a little tricky, like this.

38. Six sticky skeletons.

Faster. Three times.

Six sticky skeletons.

39. Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.

40. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?

41. Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.

42. Trust the strategy before tragedy strikes.

43. A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

Let’s go faster.

44. Six sick hicks nicked six slick bricks with picks and sticks.

Let’s pick up the pace.

45. Brian brewed beer with a black bear’s blood and broke the bag he brought it in.

Oh gosh.

46. Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks.

47. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.

This is impossible. I’m not doing that three times.

All right, we’re getting towards the end people. These are longer tongue twisters. Are you up for the challenge?

48. Betty bought butter but the butter was bitter so Betty bought better butter to make the bitter butter better.

Let’s go fast.

Oh god, this one is made to make you stuff up.

49. Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines, she sits, and where she sits, she shines.

Let’s keep this clean. Don’t swear.

50. If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I’m perfectly practiced and practically perfect!

Practically perfect.

Wow!

My cheeks are sore, my tongue needs a good stretch.

How about you?

You can really feel how good this mouth workout was for you, right?

Which tongue twisters were the trickiest ones for you? Which ones do you need to practise a little bit more? Let me know down in the comments.

But well done for making it all the way through this long video today. Please do go back, make sure that you practise the ones that were a little tricky and of course, download the list of all fifty tongue twisters and practise them regularly. You can do that with the link down in the description below and you can always come back to this free practice lesson with me.

I’m going to be waiting right here, ready to practise with you again very soon.

Bye for now.