Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegend achter vliegen aan
Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegend achter vliegen aan
When flies fly after flies, flies fly flying after flies
Why Is It Hard?
Vliegen (flies/to fly) appears seven times in two lines. The Dutch language allows the same word to function as noun and verb in the same sentence, and this tongue twister exploits that mercilessly. At speed, vliegen becomes a meaningless sound that the speaker must keep repeating without losing count or grammatical sense.
History
Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen is a classic Dutch tongue twister that demonstrates Dutch’s Germanic capacity for noun-verb ambiguity. It belongs to a family of European tongue twisters that exploit the same word used as different parts of speech (similar to the Russian yeli twister). It appears in Dutch language teaching materials as an example of lexical ambiguity.
Tips for Saying It
- Understand the structure: when-flies-after-flies-fly, flies-fly-flying-after-flies.
- Vliegen: VLEE-hhen — the Dutch g is a soft guttural sound.
- Practise just the noun vs verb: vliegen (flies, noun) versus vliegen (to fly, verb) side by side.
More Dutch Tongue Twisters
- Dutch Tongue Twisters — full collection
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