Fui a la feria a por fresas.
FWEE a-la-FE-ria a-por-FRE-sas
I went to the fair for strawberries.
🔊 Listen & Practice
Start with slow speed to master pronunciation, then gradually increase to challenge yourself.
🎨 Visualization
Off to the fair for some fresh strawberries!
🎯 Pronunciation Focus
The 'f' Sound
/f/This tongue twister gives you great practice with the 'f' sound, which is made by gently pushing air between your top teeth and your bottom lip. The goal is to make it crisp and consistent across all the words.
The 'fr' Consonant Cluster
/fɾ/This is the main challenge! It combines the 'f' sound with a quick tap of the 'r'. Your tongue should tap the roof of your mouth just once, immediately after you make the 'f' sound. It's a very fast 'f-ruh' motion.
📝 Practice Breakdown
Start here. Focus on a crisp 'f' sound in both 'fui' and 'feria'. For 'feria', make sure the 'r' is a very light, quick tap of the tongue.
This is the key part. Practice the 'fr' in 'fresas'. Try saying 'fuh' then 'ruh' (with a tapped r) and speed it up until they blend: 'f-ruh', 'fruh', 'fre'.
Now, put it all together. Try to link the words so it flows like one smooth sentence. The challenge is keeping the 'f' and 'r' sounds clear as you speed up.
📚 Background
This is a fantastic and simple 'trabalenguas' for beginners. It's not a famous classic, but it's widely used by teachers because it perfectly isolates the 'f' and 'fr' sounds, which are essential for clear Spanish pronunciation.
❌ Common Pitfalls
Using the English 'r'
Mistake: "Pronouncing the 'r' in 'feria' and 'fresas' like the English 'r' in 'red' or 'strawberry'."
Correction: The Spanish 'r' in these words is a 'tap'. Flick the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth once, very quickly. It's the same sound many Americans make for the 'tt' in 'butter' or 'little'.
Putting a Vowel Between 'f' and 'r'
Mistake: "Accidentally adding a small vowel sound, making 'fresas' sound like 'feh-resas'."
Correction: The 'f' and 'r' sounds should be immediate. As soon as you finish making the 'f' sound with your lip and teeth, your tongue should already be moving to make the 'r' tap. There's no pause or extra sound in between.
🌎 Where It's Used
General Spanish
This phrase is a universal practice tool. However, the use of 'a por' is much more common in Spain. In many parts of Latin America, you would more commonly hear 'Fui a la feria por fresas' to mean the same thing.
🔗 Related Tongue Twisters
The Strawberry Challenge
Can you say it five times in a row, getting faster each time? The goal is to say it clearly, not just quickly. Record yourself and listen for that crisp 'fr' sound!
🏷️ Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it important to practice a simple sound like 'f'?
Even if a sound is similar to one in your native language, practicing it in repetition helps build muscle memory. This ensures you can produce the sound clearly and automatically when speaking at natural speed, especially when it's combined with other tricky sounds like the tapped 'r'.
What other words use this 'fr' sound?
Lots of common ones! For example: 'frío' (cold), 'fruta' (fruit), 'frente' (front), 'sufrir' (to suffer), and 'África' (Africa). Mastering it in this tongue twister will help you with all of them.