English tongue twisters for vowel sounds. English sounds. A selection of interesting tongue twisters with stories

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• Proverbs and sayings are a special segment of the vocabulary of any language, which is not always translated into a foreign language by some meaningful sentence.

• 27 Apr.

  Patter - a tool for the development of speech

  Tongue twisters are a great tool for practicing pronunciation and practicing English sounds. Unfortunately, many adults often forget about this, thinking that such exercises are only suitable for children. And in vain. Few experienced users can boast of good pronunciation. We decided to make a selection of tongue twisters for you broken down by levels of language proficiency. We hope this will serve as a great motivation for you!

  English tongue twisters for children. Level A2 - elementary

  These phrases can be repeated by both children and adults. Such sentences are also called ‘tongue twister phrases’, that is, “tongue phrases”. It is useful to repeat them both aloud and to yourself.

  Table 1. Tongue twisters in English for children.

  Patter	Translation
  Eleven owls licked eleven little liquor ice lollipops.	11 owls licked 11 rice liquor candies.
  Not these things here, but those things there.	Not these things here, but those things there.
  Red lorry, yellow lorry.	Red truck, yellow truck.
  The big bug bit the little beetle, but the little beetle bit the big bug back.	The big beetle bit the little beetle, but the little beetle bit the big beetle in return.
  Zebras zig and zebras zag.	Zebras zigzag.
  A tricky frisky snake with sixty super scaly stripes.	Cunning playful snake with 60 scaly stripes.
  She sells sea shells by the sea shore.	She sells seashells by the seashore.
  If two witches were watching two watches which witch would watch which watch?	If two witches looked at two clocks, which witch would look at which clock?
  How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?	How many trees would a groundhog gnaw through if it could gnaw through a tree?

  English tongue twisters level B1 - B2 / pre-intermediate-intermediate

  These rhymes are already for more advanced users - older children and, of course, adults. Pay attention to the humorous context of these tongue twisters.

  Table 2. English tongue twisters for older children and adults.

  Patter	Translation
  A tutor who toothed the flute Tried to tutor two tooters to toot Said the two to the tutor "Is it tougher to toot Or to tutor two tooters to toot?"	The teacher who played the flute Tried to teach two teachers how to blow. Both told the teacher "It's harder to blow Or teach others how to pipe?
  A certain young fellow named Beebe Wanted to marry a lady named Phoebe "But," he said. "I must see What the minister's fee be Before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebe"	A certain young man named Bibi Wanted to marry a young girl named Phoebe "But," he said, "I must see What will be the ministerial fee Before Phoebe becomes Phoebe Beebe."
  I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much.	I thought thought. But the thought I came up with was not the thought I thought I came up with. If the thought I thought I came up with was the thought I came up with, I wouldn't think so much.
  If one doctor doctors another doctor Does the doctor who doctors the doctor Doctor the doctor the way the doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does the doctor doctor the way The doctor who doctors doctors?	If one doctor treats another doctor, Does the doctor who heals the doctor, He treats a doctor the way he treats doctors? Or the doctor treats the doctor so Like a doctor who treats doctors?
  I cannot bear to see a bear Bear down upon a hare. when bare of hair he strips the hare, Right there I cry, "Forbear!"	I can't bear to see a bear Chasing a rabbit. When he is within a hair's breadth of a hare, I immediately yell: “Careful!”
  If Freaky Fred Found Fifty Feet of Fruit And Fed Forty Feet to his Friend Frank How many Feet of Fruit did Freaky Fred Find?	If Mad Fred found 50 pounds of fruit And feed 40 pounds to my friend Frank How many pounds of fruit would Mad Fred find?

  Difficult English tongue twisters. Level C1 - Upper-intermediate/advanced

  These tongue twisters are for true connoisseurs and lovers of the English language. They are also not without a share of humor, but it will take a little more skill and patience to pronounce them.

  Table 3 Complicated tongue twisters in English with translation.

  Patter	Translation
  A tree toad loved a she-toad Who lived up in a tree. He was a two-toed tree toad But a three-toed toad was she. The two-toed tree toad tried to win The three-toed she-toad's heart, For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground That the three-toed tree toad trod. But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain. He couldn't please her whim. From her tree toad bower With her three-toed power The she-toad vetoed him.	The tree toad fell in love with the toad girl, who lived in a tree. It was a toad with two big toes, And she had three fingers. The two-toed tree toad tried to conquer Three-toed toad heart Because the two-toed toad loved the earth On which the three-fingered toad walked. But the two-toed toad tried in vain. He couldn't please her. From my tree toad dwelling With your three-fingered power She rejected him.
  Ed Nott was shot and Sam Shott was not. So it is better to be Shott than Nott. Some say Nott was not shot. But Shott says he shot Nott. Either the shot Shott shot at Nott was not shot, or Nott was shot. If the shot Shott shot shot Nott, Nott was shot. But if the shot Shott shot shot Shott, the shot was Shott, not Nott. However, the shot Shott shot shot not Shott - but Nott. So, Ed Nott was shot and that "s hot! Is it not?	Ed Knott got shot, but Sam Schott didn't. So it's better to be a Schott than a Nott. Some say Knott didn't get shot. But Schott says he shot Knott. Either the shot Schott who shot Schott wasn't shot, or Knott wasn't shot. However, the shot Shott did not shoot Schott, but Nott. So Ed Knott got shot, wow! Is not it?

I offer you a selection of more than 50 English tongue twisters. Of these, 21 with voice acting. All tongue twisters for children and adults, for different levels: from beginner to advanced. We start with not the most difficult phrases. Tongue twisters are focused on practicing the pronunciation of different sounds: TH, L-R, S-SH-CK, D-J, TW, etc. This is a very useful English pronunciation practice for those who want to get closer to the accent of native speakers.

How to train

• Start slowly.
• Read the entire sentence clearly for each word.
• Repeat the tongue twister each time faster, while maintaining clarity of pronunciation.
• On audio, the announcer reads the tongue twister, first slowly, then quickly.
• Try to imitate a native speaker.
• Be sure to record yourself on audio and compare your progress after 30-50 attempts to pronounce the same tongue twister.

3. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

6. A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose.

12. Fresh fried fish, fish fresh fried, fried fish fresh, fish fried fresh.

16. Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.

17. The big bug bit the little beetle, but the little beetle bit the big bug back.

18. Whether the weather is warm, whether the weather is hot, we have to put up with the weather, whether we like it or not.

19. Eleven elves licked eleven little liquorice lollipops.

21. Is it this that those these and a or for when then I eat cake.

Slim slam slap.
Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat.

Truly rural.
Good blood, bad blood.
Rolling red wagons.

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

Quick kiss. Quick kiss. quick kiss.
Thin sticks, thick bricks.
Six thick thistle sticks.

Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly.
Kiss her quick, kiss her quicker, kiss her quickest.
My cutlery cuts keenly and cleanly.

Literally literary.
Larry sent the last a letter later.
Lucy lingered, looking longingly for her lost lap-dog.

Lovely lemon liniment.
Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.

The YES Language Center offers modern, exciting English courses that, among other things, pay serious attention to phonetics. The following are the 33 most popular tongue twisters in English with translation into Russian, which allow you to practice English pronunciation.

So you can train the pronunciation of non-equivalent, that is, having no correspondence in Russian, sounds [θ] and [ð]:

Another non-equivalent sound [w]:

We train the sounds [p] and [b], which are pronounced with aspiration, that is, with aspiration. This phonetic phenomenon is absent in Russian:

We train the sound [t], when pronouncing which the tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli, and not on the back wall of the upper teeth, as happens in Russian.

We train the sound [k], which is also pronounced with aspiration, that is, not quite like its Russian equivalent:

Now let's practice the sound combination:

Now alternating [k] and [g]:

We train the combination:

We train the sound [∫], the alternation of this sound with the sound [s], as well as the alternation of [s], [ð] and [∫]:

We train the sound, which is pronounced more intensely than Russian [h]:

We train the sound [s], as well as sound combinations, and:

We train the sound [r], which bears little resemblance to its Russian equivalent:

We train the sound [f], which is pronounced with great effort, with a greater accent than its Russian equivalent:

The English sound [m] does not require special training, since the ways of pronouncing it in Russian and English are completely the same. However, in the following tongue twister, the play on words is interesting: Mary - marry - merry. The first two words sound the same, but the third differs from them in its stressed vowel:

Now let's practice some vowel sounds. The pronunciation of English vowels should be given special attention - they bear little resemblance to Russian vowels. Sound [e]:

The following tongue twister is interesting in that the sound [e] is always followed by the same consonant, but it is preceded by different sounds and sound combinations:

Diphthong (that is, a vowel sound consisting of two elements):

Diphthong (and in one word):

There are tongue twisters that allow you to hone the pronunciation of all English sounds without exception - both consonants and vowels. Known for their snobbery, the British claim that no nationality can learn to speak English without an accent, except for the Dutch. Well, let's try to refute this assertion!

Afanaskina Ekaterina Vladimirovna - expert of the educational and methodological department

Center for Foreign Languages ​​"YES".

As you know, Karl stole corals from Clara, and Karl stole the clarinet from Clara. But not all happiness lies in the clarinet. Happiness lies in the correct diction, as well as the British-American accent, which we will have to develop today with the help of numerous tongue twisters.

So, the first tongue twister appeared many years ago. The goal was to develop correct diction and articulation as soon as possible using a simple rhyming phrase. So the first tongue twisters began to appear. It is interesting that many "pure tongues" have their own history, and it was no coincidence that they appeared.

Patter is needed in order to speak as clearly as possible, and if you are a public speaker, then your life is one big rehearsal and not a single chance to miss. At the same time, people who study English often hear the phrase: “You should not worry about pronunciation, you should worry about your own silence.” In part, we can agree with this. Yes, only partly. You will not envy those who know the rules and are silent, afraid to say the wrong word or forgetting to put the article.

However, it is thanks to our pronunciation that foreigners understand where we are from. This can be seen in a great video of a guy who showed us what 67 English accents look like. And, believe me, this is what will make you wildly delighted, because these are exactly the accents that those who have ever visited Scotland, Ireland, Wales and many American states have to face.

It is interesting that not only the pronunciation of tongue twisters, but in general, any pronunciation needs to be trained in front of a mirror. English speech is different from Russian. If in our native language we can speak less abruptly, then in English we have to use all the strength and power of intonation in order to show that we are aware of how to express ourselves correctly. Imagine that you need to intonate as if you want to show a wavy line with your voice. Represented? Now try to emphasize semantic words (more often these are nouns and verbs, less often - all other parts of speech, depending on the situation and the sentence itself). At the same time, do not forget about sounds: do not confuse "Ө" and "ð", do not growl, pronounce "p", "t" and "d" in a special way (I'm sure you know how to do this), and, of course, don't forget to smile widely. It turns out? Excellent!

The most famous and at the same time quite complex tongue twister, with which you can work out the sounds " ʃ " and " s» , are the following:

She sells sea shells on the sea shore;
The shells that she sells are sea shells I'm sure.
So if she sells sea shellson the sea shore,
I'm sure that the shells are sea shore shells.

We note right away that it is not worth thinking about the meaning. You can, of course, try to translate this set of words, from which you will learn that she sells sea shells on the coast, and these are 100% sea shells and then you can stop, because. the rest of the words are simply folded into a rather complex combination, which is difficult to repeat at the initial stage.

Another short but really challenging one is

Sally is a sheet slitter, she slits sheets.

For those who want to reach maximum heights, we recommend trying to pronounce the tongue twister below:

Sally sells sea shells by the shiny sea shore,

so she can see the shimmering silver ships

Sunshiny summersshe strolls along the seashore

Shoelessly splashing somersaults while she skips.

Pay attention to the translation of the following words:

Shimmering- flickering

Sunshine– sunny

Stroll- stroll

Shoelessly- barefoot

Splashing- splashing

Somersaults- somersault jumping

Skip- to jump, jump

While you are training, let the whole world wait!

Show me showered
and shampooed sheep
and I'll show you
a sheep in sharp shape

Patter w, v, ð

To work out the sounds "w" and "ð", the following tongue twister is perfect:

Whether the weather is fine
or whether the weather is not.
Whether the weather is cold
or whether the weather is hot.
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

Please note that the union whether' stands for 'whether', ' weather" is the weather, but " weather"- a verb denoting "to endure", "to endure".

William always wears a very warm woolen vest in winter? Viktor however never wears underwear even in the wild wild West

Tongue twisters for p, t, k

To work out the sounds "p", "t", "k" the tongue twister about Peter Piper will help:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Verb " to pick" - gather, " peck"- heap, " pickled» - marinated

Think you can pronounce it as fast as in the video below?

Are you sure it was easy? Then look at this

Tongue twisters on t, d

A rather interesting tongue twister from the point of view of honing several sounds at once is the following:

What a to-do to die today, at a minute or two to two;
A thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do.
For they'll beat a tattoo, at twenty to two
A rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tattoo
And a dragon will come when he hears the drum,
At a minute or two to two today, at a minute or two to two.

Tongue twisters for l, n

And finally, a few nursery rhymes"For those who thought they were not enough:

You've no need to light a night-light
On a light night like tonight
For a night-light's light's a slight light,
And tonight's a night that's light.
When a night's light's like tonight's light,
I wouldn't really think it's quite right
To light night-lights with their little lights
On a light night like tonight.

A night-light- night light

light- small, insignificant

Patter on b, t

Betty Botter bought some butter;
“But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter!
If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter.
But a bit o’ better butter
Will but make my batter better.”
Then she bought a bit o' butter
Better than the bitter butter
Made her bitter batter better.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit o’ better butter.

Tongue twisters for r, l, s

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,
It's slick to stick a lock upon your stock,
Or some stickler who is slicker
Will stick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor
With a lock!

Seth at Sainsbury's sells thick socks.

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Tongue twisters training different sounds

How many cans can a cannibal nibble if a cannibal can nibble cans?
As many cans as a cannibal can nibble if a cannibal can nibble c ans.

Three gray geese in the
green grass grazing.
Gray were the geese and
green was the grass

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Fresh fried fish, Fish fresh fried, Fried fish fresh, Fish fried fresh.

The Guinness Book of Records holder was the tongue twister " the sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick». Here, even the translation itself is difficult to pronounce (the sixth sheep of the sixth sick sheikh is sick), not to mention the English version.

Interestingly, there are approximately 2,375 tongue twisters in 108 languages.

Tongue twisters help us develop speech and learn how to pronounce correctly, most often they are in the form of rhymed verses with the alternate use of similar sounds, help develop diction. In English, the tongue twister will be “tongue twister”, which translates as “tongue + braider”, that is, what makes the tongue twist. I advise you to pronounce tongue twisters at first slowly, loudly out loud, paying attention to the correct pronunciation of all sounds, then you can gradually accelerate. It is believed that the translation of tongue twisters is a thankless task, so the translation is given to you, only so that you know what it is about, but do not look for meaning there. An audio recording with the correct pronunciation is also attached to the tongue twisters.

1. To sounds [b] and [l]

One black beetle bled only black blood, the other black beetle bled blue.

One black beetle was bleeding only black blood, the other black beetle was bleeding blue.

1. To the sound [d]

Did Doug dig Dick's garden or did Dick dig Doug's garden?

Doug digs Dick's garden or Dick digs Doug's garden.

1. To the sound [ʊ] -w

If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?

If two witches were watching two clocks, which witch would watch which clock?

1. To the sound - g

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager
imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?

Can you imagine the manager of an imaginary menagerie imagining how to run a fictional menagerie?

1. To the sound [h]

Harry Hunt hunts heavy hairy hares.
Does Harry Hunt hunt heavy hairy hares?
If Harry Hunt hunts heavy hairy hares,
Where are the heavy hairy hares Harry Hunt hunts?

Harry Hunt hunts heavy fluffy hares.

Harry Hunt hunts heavy fluffy hares?

If Harry Hunt hunts heavy fluffy hares,

Where are the heavy fluffy hares that Harry Hunt hunts?

1. To the sound [f]

There was a fisherman named Fisher
who fished for some fish in a fissure.
Till a fish with a grin,
pulled the fisherman in.
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fisher.

There lived a fisherman named Fisher,

Who was fishing in the crevasse.

But some fish with a grin

pulled the fisherman into the water.

And now people are catching Fischer in the crack.

1. To the sound [ɔɪ]

What noise annoys an oyster most?
A noisy noise annoys an oyster most.

What sound annoys the oyster the most?

A loud sound irritates the oyster the most.

1. To the sound [s] and [ʃ] - sh

She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure.
For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore
Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.

She sells seashells on the seashore.

The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure of it.

Since she sells seashells on the seashore,

I'm sure she sells shells from the seaside.

1. To the sound [p]

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Peter Piper took a peck of pickled peppers.

The pickled peppers were taken by Peter Piper.

If Peter Piper took a peck of pickled peppers,

How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper take?

*peck - unit of measure = about 9 kg.

1. To the sound [r]

Rhys watched Ross switch his Irish wristwatch for a Swiss wristwatch.

Reese watched as Ross traded in his Irish wristwatch for a Swiss wristwatch.

1. To the sound [θ] - th

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

Thirty-three thieves thought they had agitated the throne on Thursday.

1. To the sound [t]

Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.

Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.

1. To the sounds [ð] and [θ] - th

Not these things here but those things there.