“Cinq Chiens” Tongue Twister
Cinq chiens chassent six chats.
Translation: Five dogs hunt six cats.
Why Is It Hard?
This French virelangue packs four major phonetic traps into six words. Cinq (five) ends with a nasal vowel; chiens (dogs) uses CH then another nasal; chassent (hunt) is CH again; six (six) switches to S; and chats (cats) ends with CH but a silent S. The brain must switch between nasal vowels, CH fricatives, and S sounds at speed — and the silent letters in chiens and chats add an extra trap for non-native speakers.
History
Cinq Chiens is a widely used French classroom tongue twister, particularly popular in the lower primary years when children are learning to count and name animals. The combination of numbers and animals makes it memorable and easy to picture. Speech therapists in France and Belgium use it to work on the CH phoneme and nasal vowels — two features of French pronunciation that are among the most difficult for English-speaking learners to master.
Tips for Saying It
- The nasal vowel in cinq and chiens — the ‘an/in’ sound — must not become a plain vowel followed by N; it is produced entirely in the nose.
- Note that chats ends in a silent S but the T is also silent — the word ends on the vowel sound alone.
- Visualise five dogs chasing six cats — the image locks in the numbers and helps you keep count mid-sentence.
More French Tongue Twisters
Discover more tongue twisters from around the world:
- French Tongue Twisters — the complete virelangues collection
- Son Chat — more feline French fun
- Funny Tongue Twisters — laughs in every language