Twenty tongue twisters to practise your pronunciation in French.
Tongue twisters are a handy and funny way to practise and improve your pronunciation of French. They help you practise tricky phonemes and words. They also help you with intonation. Saying tongue-twisters can augment your confidence and prove to yourself that you can speak fluently.
The French word for tongue twisters is virelangues. If you translate this literally, it means ‘turn of the tongue.’. Tongue twisters are a great way to put your pronunciation to test for both beginners and native speakers.
We've selected a list of the most popular French tongue twisters. Read the tongue twisters out loud. First slowly, so you understand what you are saying. Then try saying it faster without hesitation. Then faster still - as fast as you can!
Can you pronounce them without hesitation?
1. Practice the ch, the ss and the s sound
- Douze douches douces.
- Son chat chante sa chanson.
- Cinq chiens chassent six chats.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser chasse sans son chien.
- A chacun son choix se dit sa sœur Sylvie, suivant son chemin.
- Je suis chez ce cher Serge.
- Ces cerises sont si sures qu’on ne sait pas si c’en sont.
2. Practice the v sounds.
The different words in this French tongue twister (vert, ver, and vers) are all pronounced the same way:
- Le ver vert va vers le verre vert.
- As-tu vu le vert ver allant vers le verre en verre vert ?
3. Practice the t sounds
- Trois petites truites non cuites, trois petites truites crues.
- Trois tortues trottaient sur un trottoir très étroit.
- Tata, ta tarte tatin tenta tonton ; Tonton tâta ta tarte, Tata.
4. Practice the r sounds
It's not easy to pronounce the r correctly. These tongue twisters can help you practice:
- La roue sur la rue roule, la rue sous la roue reste.
- Pauvre petit pêcheur, prends patience pour pouvoir prendre plusieurs petits poissons.
- Gros gras grand grain d'orge, tout gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgerisé, quand te dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgeriseras-tu? Je me dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgeriserai quand tous les gros gras grands grains d'orge se seront dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgerisés.
- Un généreux déjeuner regénérerait des généraux dégénérés.
5. Practice the z and j sounds
- Je veux et j'exige du jasmin et des jonquilles.
- Je veux et j'exige d'exquises excuses.
6. Practice nasal sounds
Nasal sounds don’t exist in English, that’s why it's important to practice tongue twisters with nasal sounds as much as possible:
- Vincent vint sans vin et Vivien vint sans ses cent vingt vins.
- Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.
- Charline chante une chanson chaque dimanche dans la chambre du château.
Tongue twisters are a good exercise to improve your pronunciation. But you will probably notice that some exercises are more challenging than others. Identify your challenges and practise on them as much as possible, because those are the French sounds that are the most difficult for you personally.
Do you have trouble identifying where your challenges lie? Then a coach can help you!
Do you want to improve your pronunciation in French?
Our French coaches can help you with that! During your session, you'll work on your specific difficulties with pronunciation. Your coach will support you and give you tailored tips until you can confidently pronounce the most difficult tongue twisters in French!
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