黑化肥发黑会挥发，灰化肥发灰会挥发 (Hēi huà féi fā hēi huì huī fā, huī huà féi fā huī huì huī fā)
黑化肥发黑会挥发，灰化肥发灰会挥发 (Hēi huà féi fā hēi huì huī fā, huī huà féi fā huī huì huī fā)
Black chemical fertilizer turns black and will volatilize; grey chemical fertilizer turns grey and will volatilize
Why Is It Hard?
This is widely considered the hardest Chinese tongue twister in standard collections. The h and hu sounds dominate: hēi (black), huà (chemical), féi (fertilizer), fā (develop/turn), huì (will), huī (volatilize). The second line substitutes grey (huī) for black (hēi) using an almost identical sound. At speed, hēi, huī, huà, and huì become indistinguishable. Native Mandarin speakers regularly fail this one.
History
This tongue twister has circulated in Chinese internet culture since the early 2000s and is a staple of Chinese variety shows and social media challenges. Unlike the older children’s twisters, it was constructed specifically for its phonetic difficulty rather than as a teaching tool. It is part of a family of Chinese super-twisters that exploit the language’s aspirated h and retroflex sounds to create near-maximum difficulty.
Tips for Saying It
- Distinguish hēi (black, falling tone, pure vowel start) from huī (grey, flat tone, rounded lip start).
- Huà (chemical) and huì (will) and huī (grey/volatilize) are three different words – practise them as a set.
- Slow practice is essential: this twister cannot be rushed into by native speakers, let alone learners.
- Breaking it into four-character chunks: hēi huà féi fā / hēi huì huī fā.
More Chinese Tongue Twisters
- Chinese Tongue Twisters – full collection
- Hard Tongue Twisters – hardest in any language
- Polish Tongue Twisters – another extreme challenge
Find hundreds more on alltonguetwisters.com.