Cantonese tongue twisters

Let’s talk about something that is a little more lighthearted today. I want to share a couple of tongue twisters.

Dummy, I hardly can speak Cantonese properly right now, why are we learning tongue twisters. Well, tongue twisters help strengthen some of the muscles for your speech that you might not normally use, it might actually help with your Cantonese after all. Also from doing tongue twisters, it is easy for you to pick out what sounds might be challenging for you. When I was still in Hong Kong, I used to act a little bit on stage, we had to do a lot of tongue twisters to warm up the tongue and the mouth so when we talk, there is a lot more clarity.

I will talk about 6 different tongue twisters today, these are beginner leveled tongue twisters, so they are a little challenging but most kids are able to do it if practiced enough. You can start by slowly reading them and start increasing the pace when you feel more comfortable.

Beginner level

The first one is:

入實驗室㩒緊急掣。(Dummy PY: Yup Sutt Yeem Sutt Gum Gun Gup Jai)

入 (Dummy PY: Yup) means the action of going in or entering, 實驗室 (Dummy PY: Sutt Yeem Sutt) means the lab, the laboratory. 㩒 (Dummy PY: Gum) means to press, and 緊急 (Dummy PY: Gun Gup) means emergency, finally 掣 (Dummy PY: Jai) means the button. So the entire tongue twister means “Enter the lab, press the emergency button”

入[yap6]實[sat6]驗[yim6]室[sat1]㩒[gam6]緊[gan2]急[gap1]掣[jai3]。

You can try a couple of times. It can be challenging for the ending consonants in this sentence, if that’s also your challenge, you can work on that portion. It is not just challenging for language learners, certainly hard for native speakers too.

The second one is:

郵差叔叔送信純熟迅速送出。(Dummy PY: Yao Chai Suk Suk Sung Suen Suen Suk Suen Choke Sung Chut)

郵差 (Dummy PY: Yao Chai) mean postmen, or posting officers. 叔叔 (Dummy PY: Suk Suk) is what we call an uncle, or a way to call men that are older than you. 送 (Dummy PY: Sung) means to deliver, 信 (Dummy PY: Suen) here as a noun means letters or mails. So 送信 (Dummy PY: Sung Suen) means delivering mail. 純熟 (Dummy PY: Suen Suk) means well practiced or very familiar. 迅速 (Dummy PY: Suen Choke) means efficient or quick in pace. 送出 (Dummy PY: Sung) means to deliver out, send it out. The whole tongue twister means the postmen uncle delivering mail efficiently and quickly sending them out.

郵[yau4]差[chaai1]叔[suk1]叔[suk1]送[sung3]信[seun3]純[seun4]熟[suk6]迅[seun3]速[chuk1]送[sung3]出[cheut1]。

Beginner level, the third tongue twister is:

痴線蜘蛛啲蜘蛛絲黐住枝樹枝。(Dummy PY: Chi Seen Ji Ju Dee Ji Ju See Chi Ju Ji Shu Ji) This one sounds complicated.

痴線 (Dummy PY: Chi Seen) means crazy, 蜘蛛 (Dummy PY: Ji Ju) means spider, 啲 (Dummy PY: Dee) meaning those or some, 蜘蛛絲 (Dummy PY: Ji Ju See) means the spider webs/ cob webs, 黐住 (Dummy PY: Chi Ju) means sticking onto, 枝 (Dummy PY: Ji) is the unit indicator here, meaning a branch and 樹枝 (Dummy PY: Shu Ji) means tree branch. So the whole tongue twister, it means, the crazy spider’s spider webs are stuck onto the tree branch.

痴[chi1]線[sin3]蜘[ji1]蛛[jyu1]啲[di1]蜘[ji1]蛛[jyu1]絲[si1]黐[chi1]住[jyu6]枝[ji1]樹[syu6]枝[ji1]。

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​Intermediate level

床腳撞牆角，牆角撞床腳， 你話床腳撞牆角定牆角撞床腳。(Dummy PY: Chong Jeuk Jong Cheung Gok, Cheung Gok Jong Chong Jeuk, Neigh Wah Chong Jeuk Jong Cheung Gok Ding Cheung Gok Jong Chong Jeuk)

床腳 (Dummy PY: Chong Jeuk) means the leg of the bed, meaning the bed corner, 撞 (Dummy PY: Jong) means to bump into, to hit; 牆角 (Dummy PY: Cheung Gok) means the corner of the wall.

First line: 床腳撞牆角(Dummy PY: Chong Jeuk Jong Cheung Gok) Corner of the bed hits the corner of the wall.

Second line: 牆角撞床腳 (Dummy PY: Cheung Gok Jong Chong Jeuk) the corner of the wall hits the corner of the bed.

The whole tongue twister means the corner of the bed hits the corner of the wall, the corner of the wall hits the corner of the bed, you say is it the corner of the bed hitting the corner of the wall or is it the corner of the wall hit the corner of the bed.

床[chong4]腳[geuk3]撞[jong6]牆[cheung4]角[gok3]，牆[cheung4]角[gok3]撞[jong6]床[chong4]腳[geuk3]， 你[nei5]話[wa6/wa2]床[chong4]腳[geuk3]撞[jong6]牆[cheung4]角[gok3]定[ding6]牆[cheung4]角[gok3]撞[jong6]床[chong4]腳[geuk3]。

Still alright? There’s an even more complicate one, here we go:

掘柑掘桔掘金桔，掘雞掘骨掘龜骨，掘完雞骨掘金桔，掘完龜骨掘雞骨。(Dummy PY: Gwut Gum Gwut Gut Gwut Gum Gut, Gwut Guy Gwut Gwut Gwut Gwai Gwut, Gwut Yuen Guy Gwut Gwut Gum Gut, Gwut Yuen Gwai Gwut Gwut Guy Gwut)

This one is really really hard, I can barely say this without making any mistakes.

First line: 掘柑掘桔掘金桔(Dummy PY: Gwut Gum Gwut Gut Gwut Gum Gut). 掘 (Dummy PY: Gwut) means to dig, 柑 (Dummy PY: Gum) means Tangerine, the fruit, 桔 (Dummy PY: Gut) means Mandarin oranges. 金桔 (Dummy PY: Gum Gut), apparently this fruit’s English name is also Kumquat, from the Cantonese translation, so anyway it’s just the golden mardarin orange.

Second line: 掘雞掘骨掘龜骨(Dummy PY: Gwut Guy Gwut Gwut Gwut Gwai Gwut). Again 掘 (Dummy PY: Gwut) means to dig. 雞 (Dummy PY: Guy) needless to say means chicken, 骨 (Dummy PY: Gwut) means bones, 龜骨 (Dummy PY: Gwai Gwut) means turtle bones.

Third line: 掘完雞骨掘金桔(Dummy PY: Gwut Yuen Guy Gwut Gwut Gum Gut). 掘完 (Dummy PY: Gwut Yuen) means finish digging. 雞骨 (Dummy PY: Guy Gwut) means chicken bones, then 掘金桔(Dummy PY: Gwut Gum Gut) means to dig that golden mandarin orange.

Fourth line: 掘完龜骨掘雞骨(Dummy PY: Gwut Yuen Gwai Gwut Gwut Guy Gwut). 掘完龜骨 (Dummy PY: Gwut Yuen Gwai Gwut) meaning finish digging turtle bone, 掘雞骨 (Dummy PY: Gwut Guy Gwut) means to dig chicken bones.

The whole tongue twister means: to dig tangerine to dig mandarin orange to dig golden mandarin oranges, to dig chicken to dig bones to dig turtle bones, finish digging chicken bones dig Golden mandarin oranges, finish digging turtle bone dig chicken bones.

掘[gwat6]柑[gam1]掘[gwat6]桔[gat1]掘[gwat6]金[gam1]桔[gat1]，掘[gwat6]雞[gai1]掘[gwat6]骨[gwat1]掘[gwat6]龜[gwai1]骨[gwat1]，掘[gwat6]完[yun4]雞[gai1]骨[gwat1]掘[gwat6]金[gam1]桔[gat1]，掘[gwat6]完[yun4]龜[gwai1]骨[gwat1]掘[gwat6]雞[gai1]骨[gwat1]。

Very prominently there are some words that might be challenging to say together in a sentence, like 龜骨 (Dummy PY: Gwai Gwut) turtle bones. 雞骨 (Dummy PY: Guy Gwut) chicken bones, and 金桔 (Dummy PY: Gum Gut), the golden marndarin oranges and 掘 (Dummy PY: Gwut) to dig, these are some challenging sounds.

Final one I am talking about today:

一蚊一斤龜，七蚊一斤雞，佢話龜貴過雞，我話雞貴過龜，咁究竟龜貴過雞定係雞貴過龜？(Dummy PY: Yat Men Yat Gun Gwai, Chat Men Yat Gun Guy, Keui Wah Gwai Gwai Gwo Guy, Ngo Wah Guy Gwai Gwo Gwai, Gum Gow Ging Gwai Gwai Gwo Guy Ding High Guy Gwai Gwo Gwai?)

First line: 一蚊一斤龜(Dummy PY: Yat Men Yat Gun Gwai). 一蚊 (Dummy PY: Yat Men) means one dollar, 一斤 (Dummy PY: Yat Gun), 斤 (Dummy PY: Gun) is a weight measuring unit, essentially 一斤 (Dummy PY: Yat Gun) one unit equals to 0.5 kg. 龜(Dummy PY: Gwai) like earlier, means turtle. So the first line means 1 dollar for 0.5 kg of turtles or 一斤 (Dummy PY: Yat Gun) of turtles.

Second line: 七蚊一斤雞 (Dummy PY: Chat Men Yat Gun Guy) 七蚊 (Dummy PY Chat Men) means seven dollars, 一斤 (Dummy PY: Yat Gun) again equals 0.5 kg, 雞 (Dummy PY: Guy) again means chicken. Second line means seven dollar for 0.5 kg of chicken or 一斤 (Dummy PY: Yat Gun) of chicken.

Third line: 佢話龜貴過雞 (Dummy PY: Keui Wah Gwai Gwai Gwo Guy) 佢 (Dummy PY: Keui) means he or she or it, 話 (Dummy PY: Wah) means to say, 龜貴過雞 (Dummy PY: Gwai Gwai Gwo Guy) means turtles are more expensive than chicken. 貴(Dummy PY: Gwai) means expensive. So when you say A 貴過 (Dummy PY: Gwai Gwo) B, that means A is more expensive than B. This line is saying, he or she is saying turtles are more expensive than chicken.

Fourth line: 我話雞貴過龜 (Dummy PY: Ngo Wah Guy Gwai Gwo Gwai) meaning I said Chicken is more expensive than turtles.

Final line: 咁究竟龜貴過雞定係雞貴過龜？(Dummy PY: Gum Gow Ging Gwai Gwai Gwo Guy Ding High Guy Gwai Gwo Gwai?) 咁 (Dummy PY: Gum) here means so then, 究竟 (Dummy PY: Gow Ging) is a questioning word, meaning at the end of the end meaning what. The entire sentence means “So at the end of the day, is it turtles that are more expensive than chicken or is chicken more expensive than turtles?

一[yat1]蚊[man1]一[yat1]斤[gan1]龜[gwai1]，七[chat1]蚊[man1]一[yat1]斤[gan1]雞[gai1]，佢[keui5]話[wa6/wa2]龜[gwai1]貴[gwai3]過[gwo3]雞[gai1]，我[ngo5]話[wa6/wa2]雞[gai1]貴[gwai3]過[gwo3]龜[gwai1]，咁[gam3/gam2]究[gau3]竟[ging2]龜[gwai1]貴[gwai3]過[gwo3]雞[gai1]定[ding6]係[hai6]雞[gai1]貴[gwai3]過[gwo3]龜[gwai1]？