Six wishes wash ten dishes, nine jugs and eight cups.
The last letter looks the same in wishes, dishes, jugs and cups, but your mouth must say it three different ways. Slip, and jugs ends in a hiss instead of a buzz, or wishes loses a whole syllable.
👅 Sounds to Practise
The plural -S changes its sound, depending on the sound just before it.
- /s/, a quiet hiss, after a quiet sound: cups, hats, books. Your throat does not buzz.
- /z/, a buzzing sound, after a buzzing sound or a vowel: jugs, dogs, plays. Put a finger on your throat and feel the hum.
- /ɪz/, an extra syllable, after the hissing sounds s, z, sh, ch and j: wishes, dishes, buses, watches. You say wish-iz, with two beats.
Quick test: say cups, then jugs, then dishes. Hiss, buzz, extra beat.
🐢 Start Slow
Say each chunk slowly.
Six wishes wash
ten dishes,
nine jugs
and eight cups.
🚶 Normal Speed
Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:
SIX WISH-iz WASH TEN DISH-iz, NINE JUGZ and EIGHT CUPS.
🚀 Tongue-Twister Mode
Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:
Six wishes wash ten dishes, nine jugs and eight cups.
If it falls apart, that is normal. Slow down and try again. Keep the extra beat in wishes and dishes, and keep the buzz in jugs.
🤯 Why Is This So Difficult?
The same letter has to do three different jobs in only a few words.
six wishes wash ten dishes, nine jugs and eight cups
- Wishes wash puts an SH sound right next to another SH sound, which is a classic tongue-twister trap.
- Wishes and dishes need a whole extra syllable at the end. Many learners forget it and say wish and dish.
- Jugs needs a buzz at the end, but cups needs only a hiss. After jugs, the tongue must switch from buzz to hiss in a hurry, with and eight in between.
👀 Words to Notice
Say these pairs slowly. The ending decides the word, and a quiet S turns into a buzzing Z:
- peace / peas
- ice / eyes
- bus / buzz
- price / prize
Put a finger on your throat. For the first word in each pair, there is no buzz. For the second word, there is.
🏆 OddLingo Challenge
- Round 1: say it slowly, one chunk at a time, with no mistakes.
- Round 2: say the whole twister once at normal speed.
- Round 3: say it three times fast without stopping.
Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:
Nine dogs, ten cats, and eleven boxes on both beaches.
🧐 Did You Know?
The same three-way rule works for other little endings too: the plural in cups, the possessive in Sam's cup and the short form in Sam's here. After a buzz you say /z/, after a hiss you say /s/, and after sh, ch or s you add an extra syllable.
So one tiny letter does a lot of work, and you already say it right most of the time.
🔗 Related Practice
- She Sells Seashells: S and SH side by side.
- Six Sleek Swans: more S, with W and L.
- Sheep, Deer and Fish: plurals that do not take an S at all.