Italian Tongue Twisters: 9 Classic Scioglilingua from Easy to Hard
A0 · Pronunciation · Tongue twisters
Nine little sentences, nine sounds, and one goat with a very dramatic life. Read them out loud and your mouth gets fitter every time.
Quick answer
Italian tongue twisters are called scioglilingua (shoh-lyee-LEEN-gwah, “tongue looseners”). The most famous are Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento, Sopra la panca la capra campa and Tre tazze strette in tre strette tazze. Each one trains a specific Italian sound. Below you’ll find nine, from easy to hard.
How to practice Italian tongue twisters
Reading them out loud is the whole exercise. Speed comes last.
1 · Slow
Read it once, very slowly, syllable by syllable. Look at the pronunciation hint.
2 · Clear
Read it 3 times at normal speed. Every vowel clear, every double consonant held.
3 · Fast
Now speed up. When you trip, slow down again. Tripping is the point!
Warm-up face. Open wide. Now say “trentatré” ten times. I’ll wait.
Three easy Italian tongue twisters to start
🟢 Easy · 1
Tre tazze strette in tre strette tazze.
Three tight cups in three tight cups.
treh TAHT-tseh STREHT-teh een treh STREHT-teh TAHT-tseh
Trains: double consonants, TT and ZZ (Rule 2). Tip: stop for a split second on every double: taz-ze, stret-te.
🟢 Easy · 2
Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa.
On the bench the goat lives happily, under the bench the goat kicks the bucket.
SOH-prah lah PAHN-kah lah KAH-prah KAHM-pah, SOHT-toh lah PAHN-kah lah KAH-prah KREH-pah
Trains: hard C before a (Rule 3). Tip: only two words change in the second half: sopra → sotto and campa → crepa. Find them and you’re halfway there.
🟢 Easy · 3
Li vuoi quei kiwi? E se non vuoi quei kiwi, che kiwi vuoi?
Do you want those kiwis? And if you don’t want those kiwis, which kiwis do you want?
lee VWOY kway KEE-wee? eh seh nohn VWOY kway KEE-wee, keh KEE-wee VWOY?
Trains: the K sound in three spellings: QU (KW), K and CH (Rule 5). Tip: che is KEH, never “chay”.
Three medium ones: Trento, Lyon and the police chief
🟡 Medium · 4
C’è il questore in questura a quest’ora?
Is the police chief at the police station at this hour?
CHEH eel kweh-STOH-reh een kweh-STOO-rah ah kweh-STOH-rah?
Trains: soft C in c’è (Rule 4) against the hard KW of qu. Tip: make it a real question: let your voice go up at the end.
🟡 Medium · 5
Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré trotterellando.
Thirty-three people from Trento came into Trento, all thirty-three of them trotting.
tren-tah-TREH tren-TEE-nee en-TRAH-roh-noh ah TREN-toh, TOOT-tee eh tren-tah-TREH troht-teh-rehl-LAHN-doh
Trains: the tapped Italian R after T, and the double TT and LL (Rule 2). Tip: trentatré has the accent on the last syllable: tren-tah-TREH.
🟡 Medium · 6
Andavo a Lione cogliendo cotone, tornavo correndo cotone cogliendo.
I was going to Lyon gathering cotton, I was coming back running, cotton gathering.
ahn-DAH-voh ah lee-OH-neh koh-LYEN-doh koh-TOH-neh, tohr-NAH-voh kohr-REN-doh koh-TOH-neh koh-LYEN-doh
Trains: GLI in cogliendo (Rule 7) next to the hard C of cotone and correndo. Tip: the second half is the first half backwards. Spot the mirror!
Three hard ones: garlic, gold watches and high heels
🔴 Hard · 7
Sul tagliere l’aglio taglia, non tagliar la tovaglia: la tovaglia non è aglio, se la tagli fai uno sbaglio.
Cut the garlic on the cutting board, don’t cut the tablecloth: the tablecloth isn’t garlic, if you cut it you make a mistake.
sool tah-LYEH-reh LAH-lyoh TAH-lyah, nohn tah-LYAHR lah toh-VAH-lyah: lah toh-VAH-lyah nohn EH AH-lyoh, seh lah TAH-lyee FAI OO-noh ZBAH-lyoh
Trains: GLI, nine times (Rule 7). Tip: GLI is one soft sound, like the lli in million. No hard G anywhere.
🔴 Hard · 8
Che i loro generali regolino i loro orologi d’oro.
May their generals set their gold watches.
keh ee LOH-roh jeh-neh-RAH-lee reh-GOH-lee-noh ee LOH-roh oh-roh-LOH-jee DOH-roh
Trains: soft G in generali, orologi vs hard G in regolino (Rules 3 and 4), plus a lot of L and R. Tip: keep your tongue light. Italian R is a quick tap.
🔴 Hard · 9
Mi attacchi i tacchi, tu che attacchi i tacchi?
Will you put the heels on my shoes, you who put heels on shoes?
mee aht-TAHK-kee ee TAHK-kee, too keh aht-TAHK-kee ee TAHK-kee?
Trains: CH = K (Rule 5) with double TT and CC (Rule 2). Tip: attacchi and i tacchi sound almost the same. Hold the doubles and they won’t blur.
I did all nine. Twice. Now my tongue is on vacation.
In real life: the tongue twister challenge
Marta
your friend
Dai, dillo veloce: trentatré trentini!
Come on, say it fast: thirty-three people from Trento! · DAI, DEEL-loh veh-LOH-cheh
you
Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento…
tren-tah-TREH tren-TEE-nee…
Marta
your friend
Brava! Bravissima!
Well done! Really well done! · BRAH-vah, brah-VEES-see-mah
Italians love testing friends (and themselves) with these. Say one at dinner and you will win the table.
Common mistakes English speakers make
TAH-zeh → TAHT-tseh
ZZ in tazze is a strong, held TS sound, not a soft Z.
tren-TAH-tray → tren-tah-TREH
The accent on the É tells you: stress the last syllable, and say a short EH, not “ay”.
tag-lee-AIR-ee → tah-LYEH-reh
GLI is one soft sound. Never a hard G.
chay → KEH
Che starts with K: CH = K in Italian.
Scioglilingua: the tongue untier
👅 A word that is a twister
Scioglilingua (shoh-lyee-LEEN-gwah) means “it loosens the tongue”. The word itself has SCI and GLI in it, so saying it is already practice.
🎭 Real training
Italian actors and radio speakers warm up with these exact sentences before going on stage or on air. You’re in good company.
Step 7 · Practice
🍕 Your turn
Read each twister out loud before you answer. Then press Check. No pressure.
Warm-up · 5 questions
Complete the tongue twister.
1. Tre ___ strette in tre strette tazze.
2. Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra ___.
3. Li vuoi quei ___?
4. Trentatré trentini entrarono a ___.
5. C’è il questore in ___ a quest’ora?
See more exercises · 38 questions ▾Hide the extra exercises ▴
1 · Complete the missing word
Choose the word that completes the twister.
1. Andavo a Lione cogliendo ___, tornavo correndo cotone cogliendo.
2. Sul tagliere l’aglio taglia, non tagliar la ___.
3. La tovaglia non è aglio, se la tagli fai uno ___.
4. Che i loro generali regolino i loro ___ d’oro.
5. Mi attacchi i ___, tu che attacchi i tacchi?
6. …tutti e trentatré ___.
7. E se non vuoi quei kiwi, che kiwi ___?
8. Sopra la ___ la capra campa.
9. Tre tazze ___ in tre strette tazze.
2 · Which sound does it train?
Choose the main sound each twister works on.
1. Sul tagliere l’aglio taglia…
2. Tre tazze strette in tre strette tazze.
3. Li vuoi quei kiwi?…
4. Sopra la panca la capra campa…
5. Che i loro generali regolino i loro orologi d’oro.
6. Andavo a Lione cogliendo cotone…
7. Mi attacchi i tacchi, tu che attacchi i tacchi?
8. C’è il questore in questura a quest’ora?
9. Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento…
3 · Put the words in order
Which order is the real tongue twister?
1. tazze · tre · strette · in · tre · strette · tazze
2. capra · la · sotto · crepa · panca · la
3. questura · c’è · a quest’ora · il questore · in
4. cogliendo · tornavo · cotone · correndo
5. kiwi · vuoi · li · quei
6. i · attacchi · tacchi · mi
4 · Write the missing word
Type the missing word. Capital letters don’t matter; an apostrophe counts as an accent (trentatre’ = trentatré).
1. Tre ___ strette in tre strette tazze. (cups)
2. Sopra la panca la ___ campa. (goat)
3. Li vuoi quei ___? (kiwis)
4. ___ trentini entrarono a Trento. (thirty-three)
5. La tovaglia non è ___. (garlic)
6. C’è il ___ in questura a quest’ora? (police chief)
7. Andavo a ___ cogliendo cotone. (Lyon)
8. …regolino i loro orologi d’___. (gold)
5 · What does it mean?
Match the twister to its English meaning.
1. Tre tazze strette
2. la capra
3. la tovaglia
4. i tacchi
5. orologi d’oro
6. il tagliere
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Ci vediamo la prossima settimana! – Sì, alla prossima lezione! Ciao!
See you next week! – Yes, see you at the next lesson! Bye!
Written by Luciana
Native Italian teacher, CEDILS certified, 10,000+ lessons since 2020.
