Chinese Tongue Twisters: 20 Mandarin 绕口令 With Pinyin, Audio Tips, and Meanings

沉浸 TeamSeptember 11, 20269 min read

Chinese tongue twisters, called 绕口令 (ràokǒulìng, "twisting-mouth verses"), are the most fun way to fix the sounds that give learners trouble: s versus sh, n versus l, and above all the four tones. The most famous one is 四是四，十是十 (sì shì sì, shí shì shí: "four is four, ten is ten"), and if you can say it cleanly at speed, your s/sh and your fourth tone are in good shape. Below are 20 Mandarin tongue twisters with pinyin and English, sorted from easy to brutal, ending with the legendary lion-eating poet.

Each one targets a specific sound. That's the trick to using them: pick the twister that drills your weak spot, not just the funniest one. If you're not sure what your weak spot is, start with our guide to Chinese tones and the pronunciation guide, then come back and pick.

How to practice a tongue twister (so it helps)

Slow first, and perfect. Say it at half speed with every tone correct. Speed without accuracy just trains mistakes faster.
Listen before you speak. Hear a native reading and copy the tune, not just the sounds. Every word below links to a dictionary page with audio.
Record yourself. You can't hear your own tones while you're busy making them. Play it back and compare.
Three clean reps, then speed up. Only go faster once three slow reps in a row are clean.

Easy Chinese tongue twisters (short, one sound each)

1. 四是四，十是十 (the s/sh classic)

四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。

Sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí.

"Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty." Every learner's first twister. It drills the flat-tongue s in 四 against the curled sh in 十 and 是, and it's all fourth and second tones. A longer version adds: 说好四和十，得靠舌头和牙齿 (shuō hǎo sì hé shí, děi kào shétou hé yáchǐ: "to say four and ten well, you need your tongue and teeth").

2. 妈妈骑马 (the four tones on one syllable)

妈妈骑马，马慢，妈妈骂马。

Māma qí mǎ, mǎ màn, māma mà mǎ.

"Mom rides a horse, the horse is slow, Mom scolds the horse." The whole thing is ma in different tones: 妈 (first), 马 (third), 骂 (fourth). The best drill there is for keeping tones apart.

3. 化肥会挥发 (h and f)

化肥会挥发。

Huàféi huì huīfā.

"Fertilizer evaporates." Just four syllables, but the hu/f switch trips people up. It's the seed of the monster in number 17.

4. 吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮 (the grape twister)

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮。

Chī pútao bù tǔ pútao pí, bù chī pútao dào tǔ pútao pí.

"Eat grapes without spitting out the skins; don't eat grapes but spit out skins anyway." Drills p and t and the neutral tone in 葡萄. Every Chinese kid knows this one.

5. 红凤凰，粉凤凰 (f and h, with 3-3 sandhi)

红凤凰，粉凤凰，红粉凤凰，粉红凤凰。

Hóng fènghuáng, fěn fènghuáng, hóng fěn fènghuáng, fěnhóng fènghuáng.

"Red phoenix, pink phoenix, red-pink phoenix, pink-red phoenix." Rapid f/h switching. Note that 粉红 is a real word (pink).

6. 门口吊刀 (fourth tone drill)

门口吊刀，刀倒吊着。

Ménkǒu diào dāo, dāo dào diàozhe.

"A knife hangs at the door; the knife hangs upside down." Diào, dāo, dào: three near-identical syllables in three tones.

Medium Chinese tongue twisters

7. 知道就说知道 (do you know?)

知道就说知道，不知道就说不知道。不要知道说不知道，也不要不知道说知道。你知道不知道？

Zhīdào jiù shuō zhīdào, bù zhīdào jiù shuō bù zhīdào. Bú yào zhīdào shuō bù zhīdào, yě bú yào bù zhīdào shuō zhīdào. Nǐ zhīdào bù zhīdào?

"If you know, say you know; if you don't, say you don't. Don't say you don't when you do, and don't say you do when you don't. Do you know?" Good practice for 知道 and for the way 不 changes tone before a fourth tone (see tone sandhi).

8. 天上七颗星 (the number seven)

天上七颗星，地上七块冰，树上七只鹰，梁上七根钉。

Tiānshàng qī kē xīng, dìshàng qī kuài bīng, shùshàng qī zhī yīng, liángshàng qī gēn dīng.

"Seven stars in the sky, seven blocks of ice on the ground, seven eagles in the tree, seven nails in the beam." A first-tone drill, and a sneaky lesson in measure words: 颗, 块, 只, 根.

9. 这是蚕，那是蝉 (c and ch)

这是蚕，那是蝉，蚕常在叶里藏，蝉常在林里唱。

Zhè shì cán, nà shì chán, cán cháng zài yè lǐ cáng, chán cháng zài lín lǐ chàng.

"This is a silkworm, that's a cicada; the silkworm hides in the leaves, the cicada sings in the woods." If your c and ch blur together, this is your twister.

10. 坡上立着一只鹅 (e and he)

坡上立着一只鹅，坡下就是一条河。宽宽的河，肥肥的鹅，鹅要过河，河要渡鹅。

Pō shàng lì zhe yì zhī é, pō xià jiù shì yì tiáo hé. Kuānkuān de hé, féiféi de é, é yào guò hé, hé yào dù é.

"A goose stands on the slope, below is a river. Wide river, fat goose; the goose wants to cross, the river wants to carry it." The bare e vowel in 鹅 and 河 is hard for English speakers; this fixes it.

11. 牛郎恋刘娘 (n and l)

牛郎恋刘娘，刘娘念牛郎。牛郎年年恋刘娘，刘娘年年念牛郎。

Niúláng liàn Liúniáng, Liúniáng niàn Niúláng. Niúláng niánnián liàn Liúniáng, Liúniáng niánnián niàn Niúláng.

"The cowherd loves Miss Liu, Miss Liu misses the cowherd," year after year. Pure n/l torture, which is the most common mix-up for speakers of many southern Chinese dialects too.

12. 扁担长，板凳宽 (b and d)

扁担长，板凳宽，扁担想绑在板凳上，板凳不让扁担绑在板凳上。

Biǎndan cháng, bǎndèng kuān, biǎndan xiǎng bǎng zài bǎndèng shàng, bǎndèng bú ràng biǎndan bǎng zài bǎndèng shàng.

"The carrying pole is long, the bench is wide; the pole wants to be tied to the bench, the bench won't let the pole be tied to it." Two objects whose names differ by one consonant, repeated until your mouth gives up.

13. 六十六头牛 (the number six)

六十六岁的陆老头，盖了六十六间楼，买了六十六篓油，养了六十六头牛。

Liùshíliù suì de Lù lǎotóu, gài le liùshíliù jiān lóu, mǎi le liùshíliù lǒu yóu, yǎng le liùshíliù tóu niú.

"Sixty-six-year-old Old Lu built sixty-six buildings, bought sixty-six baskets of oil, and raised sixty-six cows." Drills l plus the iu/ou finals. Also a nice review of Chinese numbers.

Hard Chinese tongue twisters

14. 红鲤鱼与绿鲤鱼与驴 (the ü twister)

红鲤鱼与绿鲤鱼与驴。

Hóng lǐyú yǔ lǜ lǐyú yǔ lǘ.

"Red carp and green carp and donkey." Short, modern, and famous online because native speakers fail it too. Every syllable after 红 uses the ü sound (鱼, 与, 绿, 驴) in shifting tones.

15. 八百标兵奔北坡 (b and p)

八百标兵奔北坡，炮兵并排北边跑。炮兵怕把标兵碰，标兵怕碰炮兵炮。

Bābǎi biāobīng bēn běipō, pàobīng bìngpái běibiān pǎo. Pàobīng pà bǎ biāobīng pèng, biāobīng pà pèng pàobīng pào.

"Eight hundred honor guards run to the north slope; the artillerymen run side by side to the north. The artillery fear bumping the guards; the guards fear bumping the artillery's cannons." The great b/p twister. English speakers tend to over-puff the b; this teaches the difference.

16. 哥挎瓜筐过宽沟 (g and k)

哥挎瓜筐过宽沟，快过宽沟看怪狗，光看怪狗瓜筐扣，瓜滚筐空哥怪狗。

Gē kuà guā kuāng guò kuān gōu, kuài guò kuān gōu kàn guài gǒu, guāng kàn guài gǒu guā kuāng kòu, guā gǔn kuāng kōng gē guài gǒu.

"Brother carries a melon basket over a wide ditch, sees a strange dog, stares at the dog, drops the basket, the melons roll, the basket's empty, and brother blames the dog." Every syllable starts with g or k.

17. 黑化肥发灰 (the fertilizer monster)

黑化肥发灰，灰化肥发黑。黑化肥发灰会挥发，灰化肥挥发会发黑。

Hēi huàféi fā huī, huī huàféi fā hēi. Hēi huàféi fā huī huì huīfā, huī huàféi huīfā huì fā hēi.

"Black fertilizer turns grey, grey fertilizer turns black. Black fertilizer that turns grey will evaporate; grey fertilizer that evaporates turns black." Number 3, fully grown. Many native speakers can't get through the longer versions.

18. 老龙恼怒闹老农 (the dragon and the farmer)

老龙恼怒闹老农，老农恼怒闹老龙。农怒龙恼农更怒，龙恼农怒龙更恼。

Lǎo lóng nǎonù nào lǎo nóng, lǎo nóng nǎonù nào lǎo lóng. Nóng nù lóng nǎo nóng gèng nù, lóng nǎo nóng nù lóng gèng nǎo.

"The old dragon, angry, harasses the old farmer; the old farmer, angry, harasses the old dragon." N and l again, now with third-tone chains that force 3-3 sandhi decisions on every phrase.

19. 山前有四十四棵死涩柿子树 (persimmons and stone lions)

山前有四十四棵死涩柿子树，山后有四十四只石狮子。

Shān qián yǒu sìshísì kē sǐ sè shìzi shù, shān hòu yǒu sìshísì zhī shí shīzi.

"In front of the mountain are forty-four dead, astringent persimmon trees; behind it are forty-four stone lions." The s/sh twister from number 1, but with si, shi, se, shu all crammed together. A good one to record, because you'll hear exactly which syllable slips.

20. 施氏食狮史 (the lion-eating poet)

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。

Shíshì shīshì Shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

"A poet named Shi, who lived in a stone room, loved lions and vowed to eat ten of them." This is the opening of a 92-character poem written in the 1930s by the linguist Chao Yuen Ren, in which every single character is pronounced shi in one of the four tones. It's not a real tongue twister; it was written to show that Classical Chinese is unreadable out loud and only works on the page. People love to try it anyway. If you can say the first line with all the tones right, that's the achievement.

What tongue twisters can and can't fix

Twisters are great for consonant pairs (s/sh, n/l, b/p) and for keeping tones separate on the same syllable. They're less useful for the way tones flow across a natural sentence, because twisters are deliberately unnatural. For that, shadow real sentences from stories or video. Every story on Chenjin has sentence-by-sentence audio you can play, pause, and repeat. If you want a score, Tone Coach (on Plus plans) records you copying a native line and draws your pitch curve on top of the native one, syllable by syllable, so you can see the exact tone that drifted. Start with a free account to hear the audio for every word in this post and save the words you fumble as flashcards.

FAQ

What is the most famous Chinese tongue twister?

四是四，十是十 (sì shì sì, shí shì shí), the "four is four, ten is ten" twister. The lion-eating poet (施氏食狮史) is the most famous internationally, but it's a poem rather than a twister people say.

What does 绕口令 mean?

绕口令 (ràokǒulìng) is literally "twist-mouth-verse." 绕 means to wind or twist, 口 is mouth, and 令 here means a short verse or command.

Do native speakers find these hard?

Yes. The n/l ones trip up speakers from the south, the s/sh ones trip up almost everyone at speed, and 红鲤鱼与绿鲤鱼与驴 is a party trick precisely because most people fail it.

Are tongue twisters good for learning tones?

For isolating and separating tones on similar syllables (妈妈骑马), they're excellent. For natural tone flow in sentences, use real audio and shadowing instead. Do both.