Trabalenguas: The Ultimate Test of Pronunciation

Here’s a trabalenguas (tongue-twister) to challenge your pronunciation skills:

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos? En tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo tres tristes tigres.

Now, what could that jumble of words possibly mean? Let’s break it down…

Tres tristes tigres = three sad tigers. Alright, that’s easy enough.

Tragaban comes from the verb tragar, which means to swallow. Tragaban is in the past tense form of ‘them’ (referring to the tigers). What did they swallow? They swallowed trigo, which is wheat.

Okay, so far we have three sad tigers swallowing wheat. Continuing on: en un trigal means in a wheat field (trigo. trigal. See the connection?).

And finally, en tres tristes trastos—in three sad dishes. Whew.

The second bit of the trabalenguas is the same phrase, but reversed, so we aren’t going to bother with another translation.

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos? En tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo tres tristes tigres.

Now it’s time to start trying to practice pronouncing all those crazy cuts of steak!