Pronunciation and speaking fluidly can be one of the most difficult aspects of mastering the French language.
A good way to practise different sounds is with French tongue twisters, or virelangues.
As well as being difficult to get your head - and tongue - around, they are also an insight into French culture, with many having been passed down through generations.
Once mastered, you can impress your French friends and colleagues with your recital and, on a larger scale, they will help to target specific, difficult-to-pronounce sounds, helping to strengthen your pronunciation and speed up your speech.
They will also refine your accent by helping you to get a better grasp on French phonetics and silent letters.
Read more: Unlocking the puzzle of French humour
Classic French tongue twisters to try
1. Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches?
Translation: Are the archduchess's socks dry, very dry?
This famous virelangue is known for its complex blend of “ch” and “s” sounds. The repetition of soft and hard consonants makes it particularly tricky to pronounce quickly.
2. Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien
This translates as ‘a hunter who knows how to hunt must know how to hunt without his dog’.
Like the previous virelangue, it involves the ‘s’ and ‘ch’ sound and is well-known. It is often used as practice for people with a lisp.
The longer version continues with: Un chasseur sachant chasser sans son chien, ça se chasse aussi, sachez-le! (A hunter that can hunt without its dog can also be hunted you know?)
You can always just saying un chasseur sachant chasser as quickly as possible if you are struggling.
You can hear it pronounced by a French person here:
3. Je veux et j’exige du jasmin, des jonquilles et du genêt.
Translation: I want and demand jasmine and daffodils.
This one is filled with the nasal "j" sound common in French, making it a good practice for controlling French nasal vowels.
Find an example pronunciation here.
4. Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu
Translation: If my uncle shaves your uncle, your uncle will be shaved.
Here, the repetition of "ton" and "tonton" helps train your tongue to handle rapid, similar sounds in sequence. It might take a while to get it right, but it's a playful way to practice the "on" nasal sound.
Take inspiration from this.
5. La roue sur la rue roule, et la rue sous la route reste
This is a particularly useful one for anglophones as it combines two of the hardest sounds to pronounce: the ‘r’ and the ‘o/ou’.
It translates to ‘The wheel on the road rolls, and the road under the wheel remains’, which is also a tongue twister in English.
Here is a video of it being pronounced correctly:
6. Fruits frais, fruits frits, fruits cuits, fruits crus
Translation: Fresh fruit, fried fruit, cooked fruit, raw fruit
This tongue twister is packed with the ‘ui’ sound which can be a struggle for English speakers to pronounce. If you manage to master this one, other words with the same sound will be much easier.
7. Le ver vert va vers le verre vert
This one is a good example of homophones. The same one syllable sound ‘ver’ has four different meanings in this sentence: ‘worm’, ‘goes’, ‘towards’ and ‘glass’.
It translates as ‘the green worm goes towards the green glass’.
When you pronounce this one, try to think about which ‘ver’ you are saying.
8. Tati, ton thé t’a-t-il ôté ta toux? disait la tortue au tatou. Mais pas du tout dit le tatou, je tousse tant que l’on m’entend de Tahiti à Tombouctou
This famous tongue twister is a high level one, including for French people. It translates to: ‘Auntie, has your tea gotten rid of your cough? The turtle asked the armadillo. No, not at all, said the armadillo, I cough so loudly that it can be heard from Tahiti to Timbuktu.’
If you can pronounce this one correctly you are probably an advanced French speaker - although it sounds like a different language altogether.
9. Cinq chiens chassent six chats
Translation: Five dogs hunt six cats.
This one plays with the "ch" and "s" sounds, making it tricky to say quickly!
10. Une belle boule bien bleue brille
The meaning of this is ‘A beautiful blue ball is shining’.
The difficulty comes from the combinations of ‘b’ sounds. It is also an opportunity to practise your ‘l’ sounds: belle, boule and bleu have the same ‘l’ but in brille, the ‘ille’ is pronounced like an ‘ee’.
Here is a video to help you:
