Practicing Spanish with “Tres tristes tigres”

By Lingobi, Published on 05/08/2025

Why use tongue twisters?

Tongue twisters help you master tricky sounds and improve your pronunciation. The famous Spanish one “Tres tristes tigres” is great practice for rolling your R’s and pronouncing clear T sounds.

The full tongue twister

Tres tristes tigres tragan trigo en un trigal.

Translation: Three sad tigers swallow wheat in a wheat field.

Helpful vocabulary

Tigre – Tiger

Triste – Sad

Tragar – To swallow

Trigo – Wheat

Trigal – Wheat field

Tips for saying it

Start slow and say each word clearly. Then gradually speed up as you become more comfortable. Focus on the “tr” and rolled “r” sounds—those are the most challenging!

Lingobi has many more fun tools to help you speak naturally in Spanish. Practice with games, stories, and native speakers! Try it out here: Lingobi