EN हिं

NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 5 A. Tongue twisters — Let us Speak

Book page 58 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
Three tongue twisters are given below. Try speaking each tongue twister slowly at first. Gradually increase your speed with each repetition. Count how many times you can say it correctly without making a mistake. 1. Four fierce frogs fight for flies.
Answer

A tongue twister is a line in which nearly every word begins with the same sound. Said fast, the tongue gets muddled — which is the fun of it.

What the line means: Four wild, angry frogs are fighting over some flies. Fierce means wild and angry. Flies are the small insects a frog eats.

The sound being practised: the f sound — Four, fierce, frogs, fight, for, flies. Six words, six fs.

How to say f properly:

  1. Rest your top teeth lightly on your lower lip.
  2. Blow air out gently between them. No voice from the throat — only air.
  3. You should feel a soft breeze on your hand if you hold it in front of your mouth.

How to practise:

  1. Say it once very slowly, breaking it into pieces: Four … fierce … frogs … fight … for … flies.
  2. Say it again a little faster, but keep every f clear.
  3. Now say it three times without stopping. Count how many times you get through it without a slip.
  4. Try to beat your own count tomorrow.
The hard bit: frogs and for come one after the other. Slow down just there and the rest of the line will look after itself.
Q2.
2. Fast frogs flip-flop across fluffy fields.
Answer

What the line means: Quick frogs go flapping and hopping across soft, springy fields. Flip-flop means to move with a floppy, flapping, up-and-down motion. Fluffy means soft and light, like cotton wool.

The sound being practised: the fl blend — two sounds joined and said as one: flip, flop, fluffy. A blend is two letters whose sounds run together, like fl, fr, gr, st.

How to say fl: Make the f with your teeth on your lip, then let the tongue jump straight up to the roof of the mouth for l. Do not slip an extra sound in between — it is flip, never fuh-lip.

How to practise:

  1. First say the pairs by themselves: fl-fl-fl, then flip, flop, fluffy.
  2. Then say the whole line slowly, twice.
  3. Speed up a little each time and count your clean runs.
The hard bit: flip-flop followed by across. Your mouth wants to say “flop-flip”. Take a tiny pause after flip-flop until your tongue is used to it.
Q3.
3. Funny frogs flap floppy feet.
Answer

What the line means: Comical frogs are waving their soft, loose feet up and down. Flap means to move something up and down quickly, the way a bird moves its wings. Floppy means soft and hanging loose, not stiff.

The sound being practised: both f and fl in one line — Funny, frogs, flap, floppy, feet. Five words, and every one of them starts with f.

How to practise:

  1. Say the five words on their own, one at a time, keeping every f breathy and clear.
  2. Join them into the full line, slowly.
  3. Now say it five times in a row and count how many were correct.
  4. Say all three tongue twisters one after the other as a final test.
Why tongue twisters are worth doing: They make the muscles of your lips and tongue work in a new way, and they force you to say each sound cleanly instead of swallowing it. After a week of tongue twisters, ordinary reading aloud becomes noticeably clearer.
Make your own: Choose a letter and hunt for words. For example — Ten tiny turtles took ten tasty tomatoes. Or Six slow snails sat on a small stone.
Was this helpful?