How to roll your r in Spanish: the tap, the trill, and drills that get you there
Spanish has two r sounds, a quick tap and a rolled trill, and for some words they are the only difference. Pero is “but” and perro is “dog”. Many English speakers already make the tap without knowing it. You need practice for the trill, sometimes weeks of it, and this page has the drills, the words to practise on, and what to do in the meantime.
Two sounds, two spellings
| Sound | How it is spelled | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| The tap, one quick touch of the tongue | a single r between vowels, after a consonant in the same syllable, and at the end of a syllable | pero, caro, hora, tres, grande, comer, verde |
| The trill, several fast touches | rr between vowels | perro, carro, tierra, arroz |
| The trill | a single r at the start of a word | rojo, rápido, Roma, ropa |
| The trill | a single r after n, l or s | Enrique, honra, alrededor, Israel |
So a single r is a tap unless it starts the word or follows n, l or s. Rr is always a trill. An r at the end of a word, as in comer or hablar, is a tap, and speakers sometimes trill it for emphasis.
The tap
Put the tip of your tongue on the ridge just behind your upper front teeth, the bump before the roof of the mouth rises. Now flick it down, once, fast. That is the tap.
You already make it in American English. Say “butter”, “water”, “ladder” or “gotta go” at normal speed, the American way. The tt and dd in the middle are a tap. Say “pot of tea” quickly and the t in “pot of” becomes one too.
Use that to get into Spanish words:
- “Petty” said fast sounds close to pero.
- “Otter” said fast is close to ara in para.
- From “Edda” you get to era.
If you speak British English and do not flap your t’s, say “a lot of” very quickly and loosely, or imitate an American saying “water”. The movement is one light touch, no pressure.
The tap is short. If you hold it or press hard, it starts to sound like the trill, and you say perro instead of pero.
The trill
The trill is the same place in the mouth, the ridge behind the upper teeth. The difference is that you do not move the tongue down and up yourself. You place the tip lightly against the ridge, keep it relaxed, and push air past it. The air makes the tip flap two to four times, the way a flag flaps in the wind.
The two things that stop it working are a stiff tongue and too little air. A tense tongue cannot vibrate. A weak breath does not move it.
Drills
Work through these in order. Spend a few minutes on them every day.
1. Find the spot with d. Say d-d-d-d-d fast, the tip of the tongue tapping the ridge. Now say “ed-da, ed-da, ed-da” faster and faster. Notice where your tongue touches. That is where the trill happens.
2. Add air to the d. Say d and, instead of letting the tongue drop, blow a strong breath out while keeping the tongue loose and close to the ridge. Some people get a first flutter here. If not, go on.
3. Use tr and dr. Say tres, tren, dragón, drama and let the r after the t or d stretch out: “trrres”, “drrrama”. When you say the t or d, your tongue is already in the right place, with a push of air behind it. Many learners first hear a trill here.
4. Use “butter” at speed. Say “butter-butter-butter” as fast as you can, loose and loud. The taps start to run together into a trill.
5. Start from a tap. Say para with a tap, then parra holding the r longer with more breath. Go back and forth: para, parra, para, parra.
6. Move to the start of words. Once you can trill between vowels, try rojo, rápido, ropa, Roma. Put a short “e” before it at first, as a run-up: “e-rrojo”. Drop the e once the trill comes.
7. Put it in sentences. Go from single words to phrases, then to the tongue twisters below.
Some tips:
- Keep the jaw a little open and relaxed. Do not clench.
- Keep the sides of the tongue touching the upper side teeth, so the air goes out over the tip.
- Practise when you are relaxed. It is harder when you are tense.
- With a slight smile, the tongue sits further forward.
Minimal pairs
These pairs differ only in tap and trill. Read them aloud, tap first, then trill.
| Tap | Meaning | Trill | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| pero | but | perro | dog |
| caro | expensive | carro | car (Latin America), cart |
| coro | choir | corro | I run |
| para | for | parra | grapevine |
| cero | zero | cerro | hill |
| pera | pear | perra | female dog |
| foro | forum | forro | lining |
| ahora | now | ahorra | he or she saves |
| moro | Moor | morro | snout |
| mira | look | mirra | myrrh |
Getting pero and perro wrong in a sentence is usually cleared up by context. Pera and perra are the pair to be careful with. If you ask for una perra at a fruit stall, people laugh, and perra is also an insult for a woman.
Common mistakes
The English r. For the English r you curl the tongue back and never touch the roof of the mouth. In Spanish the tip always touches. An English r in pero sounds like “peh-row” and is one of the clearest marks of an English accent in Spanish.
Trilling every r. Learners who have just got the trill tend to use it everywhere, and pero comes out as perro. Most r’s in Spanish are taps. Trill only in the places in the table at the top.
The throat r. A French or German r made at the back of the throat is not a Spanish r. It is understood, and it sounds foreign.
A stiff tongue. If the tongue is pressed hard against the ridge, it cannot vibrate. Lighter contact, more air.
Too many flaps. A trill is two to four taps, a fraction of a second. A long drum roll sounds theatrical.
If you cannot trill yet
Some adults get the trill quickly. Others take months, and some native speakers never manage it and are understood fine.
Until it comes:
- Use a strong, slightly held tap where the trill should be. Perro with a firm, longer tap is understood as perro.
- Do not use the English r as a substitute. A tap is always closer to Spanish than an English r.
- Get the taps right first. Most r’s in Spanish are taps.
- Keep practising the drills a few minutes a day.
Regional differences
People make the tap and the trill the same way in all four countries. Some regions have their own version of the r.
| Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional variants | in parts of central Mexico, a final r can sound soft and hissed, as in hablar | none widespread | in parts of the Andean highlands, such as Boyacá and Nariño, rr can sound hissed, close to the s in “measure” | in parts of the north-west and Cuyo, rr can sound hissed, close to the s in “measure” |
These are local accents. For a learner, the standard trill is understood everywhere and is the one to aim for.
Practice sentences
Say each slowly first, then faster.
- El perro corre por la tierra roja. The dog runs over the red earth.
- Quiero un carro caro. I want an expensive car. (Latin America)
- Pero el perro no quiere pera. But the dog doesn’t want a pear.
- Ramón compró arroz y rábanos. Ramón bought rice and radishes.
- Alrededor de la casa hay rosas rojas. There are red roses around the house.
- Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. Three sad tigers were swallowing wheat in a wheat field.
- Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril, rápido ruedan los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril. R with r cigar, r with r barrel, the railway carts loaded with sugar roll fast.
- El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha cortado. Saint Roque’s dog has no tail because Ramón Ramírez cut it off.
- La guitarra suena rara. The guitar sounds strange.
- Ahora ahorra para el reloj. Now he’s saving for the watch.
With number 6 you practise the tap after t, and your tongue has a run-up. Numbers 7 and 8 are the tongue twisters children learn in Spain and Latin America.
Questions people ask
Why can’t I roll my r? Most often the tongue is too stiff or the airflow too weak. The tip has to be relaxed enough to flap in the air stream. With the drills above you work on both.
Can everyone learn to roll their r? Most people can, with practice. Some native Spanish speakers never learn it, and they speak Spanish every day and are understood.
How long does it take to learn the rolled r? It varies a lot. Some people get it in a few days, others take several months of short daily practice.
Is the Spanish r the same as the Italian r? Very close. Italian also has a tap and a trill made at the front of the mouth.
When do you roll the r in Spanish? For rr, for an r at the start of a word, and for an r after n, l or s. Everywhere else a single r is a tap.
Is it wrong to not roll the r? You will be understood, especially if you use a firm tap. People hear it as an accent. Meaning is only at stake in pairs like pero and perro, and there you can usually tell from context.
How do you pronounce “perro”? PEH-rro, with a trill in the middle, two to four taps of the tongue. The e is short, as in “bed”.
Practise these words
perro, caro, cero, cerro, rojo, rápido, ropa, ahora, arroz, tierra, guitarra, tren, reloj. Vozelu is a free website for practising Spanish, and it has each of these. You see a sentence with one word missing, you type the word, and a native voice reads the sentence back. Practise the words on this page.