How to Roll Your R's, Step-by-Step [Spanish Pronunciation]

[@scottm2649]

4000 videos later and still nothing.

[@iamdarla10x]

😅

[@iceicebaby-sc1fz]

got it yet?

[@Currently_Asleep_ZzZz]

same :(

[@HayItsRhy]

@@Currently_Asleep_ZzZzoh I have a tip! Put water in your mouth and gurgle it around. This should help you move your tongue like how you’re supposed to when you roll your r’s. :) hope this helps!

[@LePetitNuageGris]

@@HayItsRhy For me, my tongue goes down and out of the way of the water when I gargle, but I’ve learned you’re supposed to have the tip of your tongue near your top teeth… how are you gargling, exactly?

[@jamienguy3834]

It really helped me how you mentioned that we need to be using the Spanish consonants rather than English consonants! While I can't make the RR sound by itself, I can make a sound that almost passes as RR when it's in a word. I will keep practicing. I'm a nursing student and I am relearning spanish since there are spanish-speaking patients at the hospital. Thanks for your helpful video!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

For sure, getting the consonants down is key. Glad that helped. I bet your Spanish will come in handy all the time at the hospital. Keep it up!

[@MelodyLesser]

3/23/23 I used to be able to do this in my middle and high Spanish classes. Over the decades, I have lost the ability. Thanks for these tips. I’ve begun to study Spanish again. It was wanting to learn to dance Bachata - and the fabulous music and songs - that made me want to study. Like you, I have music on as often as possible. And I search the lyrics and hope it will all come together in my brain. My music of choice is Grupo Extra. My very fave bachata couple is La Alemana and Ataca. So beautiful and inspiring.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Music is a great place to restart your learning! Bachata is fun too. Sounds like you’re on the right track

[@snowfall1232]

I just discovered I had been doing the r wrong (somehow between my teeth) this quickly made me get the proper sound! Thank you!

[@SuperWolfkin]

One day i woke up and i could roll my Rs. It happened suddenly. It was amazing. The next day i couldnt. I still live off the high of that day.

[@JessicaMartinez-mu7xo]

My tongue is tied i have noticed this effects my speech compared to my family who dont have their tongues anchored and speak spanish…i need to go slower or it causes the words to slur

[@heidihodgins5694]

I always thought I couldn't trill my Rs, but when you explained the difference between the English and Spanish T with the tongue position, I started to notice the slight trill when saying "tres". I will be practicing every day!

[@LinkRammer]

Learning to roll your R's to speak spanish❌️ BRRRRR SKIBIDI DOP BOP BOP YES YES✅️

[@AMcDub0708]

I found out I could roll my Rs while singing a Red Hot Chili Peppers song of all things. Where he says “Give it away give it away give it away now” if you say it fast like him your tongue bounces off the roof of your mouth when you say “it away” just like rolling your Rs. I was stoked when I realized it 😂

[@catrainsford]

I've been speaking Spanish for 12 years but actually gave up on the rr and just accepted I had a speech impediment 😅Came back to it recently because I also need it for Arabic and found this video really helpful. Funnily enough, I can now do it, but only if I sing the word! I think this helps me control the airflow - if I try to trill normally, I still seem to be forcing the air too hard. I'll keep practicing!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Singing is a great tip! Wish I'd thought of that 😅 . Glad the video was helpful, good luck with your Arabic

[@malmal0910]

did you ever get it fluently?

[@brittanywilliams1590]

I empathize with you. I haven't spoken Spanish for real in like 12 or more years. I am trying to pick it back up again with my new job. Lord help us all! Please BTW thank you for this video! Blessings to you!

[@israelbuenfilsolis6081]

I'm a native speaker and can't roll my r's (25 yo) :(

[@williamcollins222]

Does your speech impediment bother you now with the foreign language? I have one too, and when my anxiety kicks in, everything goes crazy. I was hoping that Spanish would make a difference.

[@luci2k153]

This "ara" trick must be some kind of linguistic black magic bc as of writing this comment it's been ~1 hour since i googled how to roll my R's and as someone who has never been able to do it their whole life (I'm 22) your ara trick is starting to give me the tiniest of micro-trills. I'll definitely keep this up

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

nice!! Keep it up

[@Carnelian21]

Me too!

[@potatoproductionsmovies]

Has it worked

[@SashaL_music]

I SWEAR I'VE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE THIS SOUND FOR 3 YEARS AND I HAVE AN EXAM TOMOROW AND I SOMEHOW MANAGED TO DO IT THANKS TO YOU

[@franklinphan1575]

There's an exam to roll your tongue oh hell no

[@LePetitNuageGris]

@@franklinphan1575 Lol Spanish class exam, maybe? Making sure your pronunciation is correct would be part of your grade.

[@MaddieIndie]

As a Spanish speaker I can confirm similar exercises are used when we're learning to speak properly as a toddler or primary student. At school, in Castellano classes they spent hours teaching the position of the tongue and lips, believe it or not even for Spanish speakers is tricky. More importantly, this is how we spot non-spanish speakers we can hear the accent if they can't use the 'r'.

[@AlwaysRightAllNight]

Been trying to learn it for years and I still can’t 😂 I find it really hard especially as we don’t use any trills in English

[@golovkaanna8757]

I doubt it is a reliable way. I speak r's "wrong" way in my mother tongue. It is called a speech impediment, but no one thinks they are foreigners

[@MelC-td9bg]

I have a foreign accent when I speak Spanish regardless (because I didn't grow up in Spain)

[@landoncopenhaver]

This video is a bit old now but I just wanted to say that your “ara” trick is what got me to finally start rolling! I was doing the whisper “ara” all day for only a day and already got a small roll. I even was able to do it with the word “arriba”. After the whisper I’ve gradually brought the volume up until now I have the voice included! I can say those words and others like “carro” no problem. The er words like “perro” still present trouble for me so I’m still practicing a lot every day. After watching a ton of videos I just wanted to thank you for your tips that helped!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

That’s awesome ! It’s so funny how it sometimes takes forever and then something clicks and it’s not nearly as hard as it was. It’s hard to train our mouths to make new sounds - I’m glad my video could help. Keep it up 👍

[@landoncopenhaver]

@@BreakthroughSpanish I’m now already able to do er sounds such as “erre” and “perro”, so I’m quickly improving. Apparently I was trying too hard before and the skill was on the tip of my tongue, no pun intended

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

@@landoncopenhaver nice! yeah strangely, it's key to not try too hard

[@barfy362]

That's what did it for me. I still don't know why that worked but it did.

[@Wut_hapn]

How long does it usually take to eventually trill your r’s by saying that word repeatedly

[@juhakauppinen5055]

Rolling r is easy depending on your mother tongue. I struggle to pronounce Spanish less than English.

[@lynned4666]

This was the best explanation of why it's difficult for English speakers to roll the r's. I never would have guessed tongue placement on the preceding letters would be a factor. A little late on commenting, but thank you so much for this.

[@sasha.ivak.]

I actually already speak to languages that need that rolled “r”: Ukrainian and Russian, but could never do it. Now when I decided to learn Spanish, I it’s finally time for it, though I know there some difference to them. (I saw how Chinese people on TikTok learned it simply because some Russian song got viral and got embarrassed)

[@lindenjenesse5078]

From 2:25 to 4:25! Adjusting the consonants from the English pronunciation to the Spanish seems to be the key for me. That is the part of this video that is most helpful to me, thanks!! (Also... three to six months? I've been studying and practicing for two years, and I think I'm *starting* to get there with rolling my rrrrr's!!) Just don't give up! Even if you never get there - there's more to learning and speaking another language than the pronunciation of a single consonant sound. Imo.

[@LifeStormCreative]

I came here after starting duolingo and being unable to roll my r. Your tips helped make sense of what was going on in my mouth but I still couldn't quite put it together. The whole reason I am learning Spanish is because I lost my 19 year old son in April and he was fluent in Spanish. I am doing it to honor him. As I sat here trying your tricks, I looked up and said "Help me honey. What am I doing wrong?" A couple more tries and I was doing it!! Between your tips and a little help from my angel, I have made more progress in a half hour than I have in weeks!

[@fr33PS]

I'm sure he is immensely proud of you. May he rest in perfect peace

[@mariaferrand5419]

As a native speaker, the rolling r's came naturally as a toddler. Your technical advice is outstanding and exactly how I roll the r's. Now, when people ask me how I make the sound, I can explain it instead of just demonstrating it. Thank you!

[@gatosigiloso]

I'm Spanish but I'm always interested in phonetics. The way you explain everything feels super useful. And made me extra aware of my tongue positioning when speaking Spanish versus English. Like the "L" and chaining those sounds with the R. It's impossible to say things correctly! No wonder some people have a really hard time with the Spanish R. Great video!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

thanks! I agree, phonetics is a fascinating topic. There is a lot we don't notice about our native language until we compare it to another language

[@kristapedersen1828]

I could trill, but it was an extended sound that went on a bit too long. By adding air, I can now make a shorter more natural sound. Thanks for this!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

That's great! Glad this was helpful

[@kaymuldoon3575]

That’s weird. I’m just the opposite.

[@tvinht1]

Muchas gracias por este video Connor! I didn’t know about the rule of the R after the consonants in a new syllable and so glad you shared all these rules with us. Alrededor is a tough one for me. Splitting the r like you explained in the video has been especially helpful for me and I practice with: El carro es caro. Earlier when I would pronounce the r’s it sounded exactly the same 😂. It helps me to listen to how you pronounce the words and then try to replicate. Awesome video! 🙏😃

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Thanks Trang! Appreciate the comment. Alrededor is definitely a hard one to say, I hope that tip helps. Good luck and keep working on it!

[@christopherhussey1073]

I don’t think you understand you just changed my life😭

[@captainsaucekid8250]

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!! I am 38 years old and have never been able to do this. I figured I would never be able to do it. BUT, with your video I figured it out. WOW! No joke! I can do it now. Thank you so much for this video. I just ran across it looking for something else and decided to click on it. I'm so glad I did. 😂

[@lookingforfacts3762]

I started my duolingo Spanish journey a couple a weeks ago. It was almost derailed because I could not roll my R's to save my life. This video has restored my hopes. I can't roll my R's at will yet But after a couple of days of practice while driving to and from work, I've been able to bang out a few R rolls. From 0 to a few has me thinking, there's still hope out there for me yet. Thank you so much for your simple break down.

[@LoganVargo]

Are you still going , how the journey and trill r going

[@tamyahgalentine9734]

3-6 months? my teacher wants me to learn it in a day 😭😭

[@qtquanngaming2632]

ONGGGGG😭😭 got one day broooo!!😭

[@tamyahgalentine9734]

@@qtquanngaming2632 lol

[@julioguardado]

Here's a little ditty I was taught in Kindergarten in Cuba: "Erre" con "erre" cigarro, "erre" con "erre" barril. Rapido corren los carros, por las lineas del ferrocarril.

[@sambun6394]

I have struggled with my r’s since childhood. My bf will tell me to say “roar ” just because it’s hard for me. But I did just follow your instruction for maybe 5min. I rolled my fudging r’s. Thank you Julio😂❤️ I love you

[@MrSucho-vl7ih]

My parents would tell me this and I always failed 😭

[@markdonovan1540]

This is very well explained. One factor that makes it unusual for English speakers, is that the 'r' in English is a soft sound, sometimes almost inaudible, and never rolled. I am half Spanish and English, and when I was a young boy I was taught to say the following Spanish sentence by my cousins to help with "rolling" the Rs (apical-alveolar trill) El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo, porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha cortado. My advice is, as well as following the tips in this video, to focus on the sound production with a bit of forced air explusion at the same time, at least until the trill becomes easy and natural to produce. Eventually, you'll be able to let it "roll off your tongue". This requires concentration and effort at the time of producing the sound, but it will get easier and more natural over time. Listen to how Spanish people say it and imitate the sound as close as possible. Not all Spanish speakers choose to make the 'R'' sound as strong as others, as there are regional variations, but it's always clearly audible. An often confusing thing for Spanish speakers is when they don't hear the clear "R" sound at all, because that could sound like another word, a different verb conjugation or a nonsensical word. So, effort in making both the R sounds is important to be clearly understood in conversations. Have fun with it, it's a great sound really!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Great tips! Thank you

[@kremit6479]

That sentence helps a lot!

[@ykatymary7468]

I've been learning Spanish for 8 years, and I was never able to pronounce the r or rr correctly. At some point, I got frustrated and simply "accepted my fate". Now I am a Spanish student at university preparing for the intake exam to become a conference interpreter. Of course with this job I can't have a bad pronunciation. So this is my motivation to get back to practicing my r. I have 4 months till the exam, I hope I will make it

[@stritvagen]

Did u make it

[@potatoproductionsmovies]

Did you make it?

[@theforeskinsnatcher373]

Give us an update!

[@egobang0716]

Out of all the videos out there, this is the only video that had me trilling within 15 minutes of practicing! That "ara" exercise really works! Also, I love how you explain it's not just about relaxing your tongue and how other consonants can affect how you trill; I haven't seen any other person explain that in their videos. I'm almost 30 and I get made fun of from my family that I still don't know how to roll my r's. You gave me hope that I can do it. Thank you so much!!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

I’m so happy to hear that! Glad it worked for you

[@alireza_zohourian]

This is by far one of the most effective videos I watched. The 'ara' trick worked very fast after a few trials, surprisingly, and adding the air pressure even made it better to get a few more rolls. I still can't keep it as long as I want, but thank you for this great video.

[@marleenakorver5641]

Thank you so much for this! I know quite a bit of Spanish, but I am struggling with rolling my rs correctly, so I'm not very comfortable holding a conversation. Will keep practicing! 🤗

[@SILLYIN_YOURCHILLI]

Vruh i have to do soanish abc's and the assignment isndue tmw and I cant roll my r's im gonna cru 😭

[@gh1000-u7n]

Hola, thank you for sharing information. The idea of breaking up words between the rr is very helpful. I would also like to share an idea. Many years ago, my teacher had us practice rolling the rr by saying “pot of tea” really fast. It sounds crazy but it worked for me! I can’t explain the position of the tongue or the air flow from the mouth or lungs but my rr roll when I say the above phrase.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

this is a great one! I came across this one recently, too. Glad it worked for you

[@JohnOlson-br1bs]

Thank you! That little help combined with other tips and practices gave me just what I needed

[@josephlugo9629]

never had heard of the "pot of tea" trick. Thanks!@@JohnOlson-br1bs

[@weeviler]

haha, that sounds like "para tí" : ) personally, for one reason or another, I've always been able to pronounce words like "cara" and "otra" just fine, but I still struggle with "perro". I'm practicing with "atriba" until I can move on to "arriba"

[@nomadicroadrat]

Began learning Spanish decades ago. Have lived in 3 Spanish speaking counties for years at a time. My accent and my lack of rolling rs pegs me as a non-native speaker. Most people have been kind, remarking that I am good at speaking the language. After attempting to roll the r and failing have resigned myself to just concentrate on learning vocabulary. Have stopped being concerned.

[@sammikg]

This video was a lifesaver! I’ve been trying to learn how to trill for years but I never got it down until watching this video!! I literally learned it in 5 mins. I used your advice on the “ara” as well as separating the word like carro & looking in the mirror while doing it helped with tongue placement

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

congrats!! that's so great to hear. Keep practicing and it'll come out easier and easier in conversation

[@werewolf1301]

One of my professors once told me that I just speak with an Argentinian accent😅 My rr sounds have never been reliable, throughout the ~15 years I've been speaking Spanish. I hugely appreciate your ability to get back to basics!

[@I_AmNomad]

I only started taking up the practice recently. I have absolutely zero patience and have been binging videos and sounding like a lunatic trying to get this down... it wasn't until that very last tip at the end with car+ro and your brain wanting to put the sounds together that BANG rolled. I'll have to practice a ton to get it fluid and under my control, but now that I know the method works I'm super jazzed to try it. Thank you!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

glad it helped! keep it up 👍

[@danaweiss982]

Today I finally got it! I have been practicing daily for around 5 weeks or so , but have been wishing for this since I was a kid. I wished for it so much and it felt impossible. This video was the one that taught me to do the right thing to finally be able to trill! Muchísimas gracias Breakthrough Spanish !!!!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Awesome! Well done sticking with it for 5 weeks

[@callumordish3817]

Yep just looked at this video, slept on it & I can now trill a bit. Found it v difficult because it's difficult not to do the uvular trill but practicing using this advice definitely helped

[@DavidCarbajal-o7v]

Pushing the air out was a huge help

[@anarocha5844]

I’m going to try your practices, I have only ever been able to roll my rs when the double r is in the middle of the word like for example borre, carro, y perro. It’s when the rs are in the end or the beginning like nadar, or reloj or rojo donde no me sale pero gracias.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Good luck! Lo de expulsar aire de la boca antes de pronunciar el tipo de palabra que mencionas ayuda, o por lo menos me ayudó a mi

[@barfy362]

Rolling my R's while pronouncing the name 'Jorge' was the easiest for me. Perhaps thanks to the amount of air coming out of your throat due to the 'H' sound of the 'J' and 'G'.

[@FeliciaFollum]

Lol well I've tried for Portuguese and Spanish. I can't do it on Hindi. And now I'm learning Italian.... So here I am trying again

[@barfy362]

Made more progress in 30 minutes than I did in 30 years... muchas grrrrrracias!

[@douglassmithe9799]

I think I've tried something like 4 different 'how to roll your r's' videos on KZbin, and this was the only one that actually worked for me. It took time, but I can finally roll my r's. Thank you.

[@Misskk850]

Show off 😂😂😂 (joke)

[@Ecanllo]

Gracias hermano que dios te bendiga, yo puedo hablar espanol casi fluido(estoy escribiendo mal porque quiero escribir rápido) pero nunca podía hacer esto sonido y estaba hablando espanol por todo mi vida. Esto ayudó bastante muchisimas gracias.

[@flux.aeterna]

I have TMJ and way too much tongue tension, I’ve never been able to get this despite months of practice sadly ):

[@ksinghj]

I'm not quite 100% there yet, but your advice has helped me massively. Thanks!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

That's great, keep it up! Glad it has helped

[@polina.558]

me who's learning russian but is here because I couldn't find a good russian video LOL

[@debramoss2267]

As part of regaining neurological function, including a latent stammer I decided to learn languages the main being Spanish, French and Italian. The biggest drop was realising that the rrs in each one are made in different parts of the mouth. It requires exercising the tongue to tone it up, it is a muscle which needs to be strong, supple, and flexible. I find it is counterproductive to focus when having a chat, but that is when it started to come natural. Strange things we humans.

[@dominicc8264]

not using my vocal chords and just using air was huge for me, never thought of doing that! nice job

[@edwardreck6266]

I agree with another commenter that your tips about pushing the air and tongue placement are making a difference. Thanks again.

[@user-nd8ie4nw2g]

You:rrrrrr Me:lelelelelelelel

[@graysonwest04]

i can roll my r's without inserting it into words but i for some reason cannot get it to roll when inserting into words like perro and carro. it almost feels like my tongue is getting stuck preventing it from rolling.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Try practicing it more outside of words, or saying perro or carro without the p or c. Make sure you have plenty of air to get the sound out - this helps a lot while you're getting used to it.

[@cleavonne672]

the 'ara' made the trick for me! It's a great exercise to make the tounge vibrate and get used to it. Muchas gracias!

[@EnergyMaxWh]

Wish i had this video 35 years ago.

[@alrocko4065]

No matter how hard I try I can’t even do the ttttt sound

[@micheledallesandro79]

Is this the same for italian

[@themandohunter3969]

Bro no matter what video I watch every video basically boils down to do this. Then boom trill your rS 😂

[@ClownOwO]

as someone who’s been rolling my r’s since i was a baby (just. for funsies i guess??? just to make a silly noise?? i only started learning spanish in high school) this was a really interesting video!! i had absently wondered for a while why some people found it difficult when it came so naturally to me so hearing you explain it made it click in my brain, of. oh. i hadn’t even realized i was pronouncing multiple OTHERS letters differently when speaking spanish.

[@siyacer]

what are you talking about

[@nsawodnik]

When i was younger, i could easily pronounce the rr sound since I could speak slovene (I'm half french half slovene) but as i grew up(in France), and maybe because I've learnt to speak japanese in which the rr sound doesn't exist, it has become difficult to pronounce the rr sound even though i can easily pronounce the r sound. And here I am learning spanish and trying to pronounce the rr correctly again. Thank you for your explanation, it's really helpful.

[@Busterpeek21]

I have able to roll my rr for a while now and u still have trouble using it in conversation.

[@Helena_882]

I've been speaking Italian my whole life with my family (I still don't know much but hey lol) and I'm learning Spanish right now and I can't roll an R to save my life! I swear something is wrong with my tongue! Hopefully this video can help! Thank u for making it!

[@XinaNRocky]

I'm puerto rican and my whole family can roll their R's and i never could and still cant😭

[@gerardomejia1373]

My name is larry and I can't say it beacuse I can't roll my r's (am mexican)😭

[@anconor1]

Just a minor comment... You also have to roll your r's after t and d, even if they are part of the same syllable. You even use the example "tren", which has a rolled r and is just one syllable. Otherwise, nice video, from the point of view of a native speaker.

[@jgokbilgin1]

Just wanted to say , thank you ..The things you are saying are actually resonating very well. I speak French and Farsi, so have had a hard time rolling my Rs for the longest time.Graciasss!

[@BeautyReloaded]

I sound like in malfunctioning when I try to roll my R 🤣🤣

[@zeni2432]

I noticed the camera sharpness being too harsh, it's overcompensating the pixels

[@stellafromcali9417]

Thanks to you I know I'll be able to master rolling my 'r's and I'm so excited! The 'ara' trick is what the secret is. I have NEVER been able to figure this out, but now thanks to your excellent tutorial there's hope for this 62 year old Hispanic who's trying to learn Spanish!!!! Thanks so so much!

[@JohnnyV83]

I don't speak much Spanish but learned to roll my r's pretty quickly by doing parody imitations of Lord Byron from the intro to the OG B&W Frankenstein movie.

[@beyond-bei-leif]

Haven't been able to do it my whole life, this is the first video I watched-- got it during the video. Thank you 🙏❤️

[@angelfrance1595]

Thank you! This is actually the only video that helped me a lot in understanding what I'm doing wrong all this time and now, I could roll my r just need a lot more practice to do.

[@terrischwartz5051]

Just discovered your videos. They’re great! My biggest problem rolling r’s is in words like “rural”. Once I trill that first “r” it’s so hard for me to not trill the next one.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

rural is hard to say even in English 😅

[@RVJStudio]

You saved my flute flutter tonguing that I have had to do via ‘gargle’ for years!

[@JohnOlson-br1bs]

Thank you. I had heard most of these things before, but I like the aspect of taking it as a process of practice rather than a trick. I feel like a fluent Spanish speaker, but not rolling my r's has been a bummer for the last few years. Things that helped me get some progress that I didn't get before: 1. The only 'breathing 'ara' activity repeatedly throughout the day 2. Honestly the idea of telling myself that this could be a process of three to six months. Made my brain more patient, and that made me more relaxed, and once I was relaxed I started making progress, also because I finally had the patience to practice every day instead of try and get it done in 30 minutes or never. 3. @gheard1000 's comment about saying 'pot of tea' several times really fast throughout the day. I did that a bit, and changed the 't' sounds with spanish 'd' or 't' sounds. After all that I took myself through reading a short story very slowly and focusing on every syllable of pronunciation, which I haven't done in a long time, and I said 'perro' and heard a little glimmer of 'rr' sound. It's very relieving to see progress after 4 years. Thank you!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Hey John, that's awesome, thank you for sharing. Glad to hear those exercises helped. One thing you said is key, I think - "I finally had the patience to practice every day instead of try and get it done in 30 minutes or never." I think relaxing and giving yourself time to practice over time, not all at once, is really what makes it happen. Happy to hear you felt some progress!

[@ccloutier8952]

58 years old and have never been able to roll r’s. The suggestion to take the sound out and repeat the given exercise over and over had me trilling, including within Spanish words, in minutes. 🎉 I may or may not have done a little happy dance in my kitchen. I’ll have to keep practicing a long while for it to become second nature, but it’s great to know I *can* do it. Grateful you shared this! Will bookmark!

[@genahebert4]

I did it! Omg ty

[@VTSifuSteve]

It's not just a problem due to growing up speaking English. I'm convinced that some people may just have a mouth structure that makes the rolled "r" especially difficult or even impossible. I had very crooked teeth as a child before getting braces and a very high palate which I discovered when I got a dental "retainer" which looked very different from those of my brother and some neighbor kids. I wonder if this mouth structure may have made it harder for me to make the trilled "r" sound. When I was little, all the kids in the neighborhood used to play war with toy guns. I was the only kid on the block who was never able to make a "machine gun" sound. All the other kids would go "Brrrrrrrrrrrt brrrrrrrrt" and I had to run around saying "bang, bang" like an idiot. Después aprendí español en la secundaria, la prepa, y también en la uni. Viajé varias veces a México y todos me dijeron que mi español no era malo ....pero nunca logré pronunciar el sonido de la erre. Finalmente, cuando tenía mas de 30 años, es decir que después de dos décadas de práctica sin éxito, ¿Que crees? Mi esposa me enseñó el truco en un solo día. First she literally stuck her fingers in my mouth and helped me position my tongue. Then she had me lie on my back on the bed with my head draped backwards over the side of the bed and repeat exercises like saying dader dader dada dader blowing a lot of air over my tongue ....a lot like what you describe here. Now I can actually say things like: "La bruja arrea el burro rojo alrededor del cerro redondo". O si lo prefieras: "Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril, rápido corren los carros, los carros del ferrocarril".

[@camillesolange182]

Ojalá me ayude así mi esposo. Le importa un pepino que no sepa pronunciar. Huelga del español para mí. Estoy harta de este idioma.

[@WGGplant]

I've literally been the exact same way my whole like. Like even down to the 'not being able to make gun noises' thing. It's always made me unreasonably frustrated that everyone around me could just do stuff like that. Even when they'd explain what they were doing in great detail, i just couldn't do it. Ive gotten a lot better though and im going to keep practicing, because i really wanna be able to do this.

[@evawettergren7492]

Yup. In Swedish (my native language) there are a lot of rolling R... but a few people (also native swedish speakers) simply can't roll their R's. They get either a french R, in their throat, or they just kind of skip the letter with a kind of weird L sound, almost japanese sounding. But considering they learned the language from infancy and STILL can't roll the R, I think it definitely is an actual impediment for some rather than just not learning how.

[@MegF142857]

I didn't know to roll the r except when was rr . I was struggling on saying "irregular" with a rolled r.

[@mjperfume1523]

U should watch the video of Sabrina She has taught me to roll my Rrs instantly by saying some words quickly said and u will start rolling yours RRs without putting your tonque at the top of your mouth!!!!!😊

[@Jdbdhsjsjsb]

I’ve been trying for years and finally watched this video and I can do it perfectly. Thanks man!

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

well done! congrats

[@annsuma28]

what a great video! i was skeptical at first bc i struggle with R's in all languages so i thought i was hopeless without visiting a speech therapist or smth. i loved the breakdown of the problem for english speakers although my accent is closer to BrE. but what made me hooked is the way you described that l/r difference. somehow just following your directions unlocked a new position for my tongue :D i don't know if it will actually stick with me but anyways it's a wonderfully informative video! p.s. what helped me more is smiling or grinning (tongue gets closer to the roof of the mouth) and, funnily enough, trying to make a kh sound (that i usually avoid bc that's how i think my R's sound naturally). that little bit of aspiration makes the trill!

[@Hellokaz]

I swear to god i am able to roll my r now after watching this video!!! Fuck yeah mucho gracias!!!!!!

[@dr.seesaw8894]

This is a super helpful video but i have a minor nitpick about your point at 2:50. It's cool that you point out that English /t/ is aspirated whereas Spanish isn't, but this has nothing to do with tongue position! You can do a T with or without the puff of air regardless of where your tongue placement is

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

good point! Thanks for mentioning that

[@AlwaysRightAllNight]

Do you know any words in British English where we tap words because obviously you used the American examples of Butter, Ladder etc however we generally pronounce the Ts and Ds normally.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

not offhand, but if you can imitate an American/Aussie accent on words like that, you'll find the sound. If any other Brits here can speak to this, feel free to chime in below

[@geraldinethomas4915]

Try this: R con R cigarro R con R barril Rapido corren los carros Cargados de azucar del ferrocarril 😆

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8158]

Whisper "Ara ara~" to someone's ear

[@lillySims-if7gh]

THIS is what I’ve been needing! Ahra was the start and everything else was just amazing!! Thank you for including the position of the tongue and air flow/breath too! Just everything in this video I needes

[@brian0902]

I’m able to roll my letters I’m a English speaking American infact I accidentally rolled and got complaints by teachers because I didn’t realize I was rolling my r’s and sense English doesn’t roll letters I got complaints

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

interesting! Well if you're learning Spanish that ability definitely makes it easier

[@vanessasellers318]

I've tried for years to roll my r's. I did it for the first time while watching your video! What helped me most was explaining where my tongue position should be with the consonants before the rolled r.

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

awesome!

[@HolgerJakobs]

As a native German speaker I'm used to the French 'R' or Arabic 'غ'. I managed to pronounce the English non-trilling 'r', but up to now have failed to trill like they do in Bavarian German dialect, Italian, Spanish and Arabic 'ر'.

[@brandonvillamizar1216]

Kinda late, but in Venezuela we had a song that says "errrrre con errrre, cigarrrrro, errrrre con errrrre barrrrrril, rapido ruedan los carros cargados de azucar del ferrocarril", all those R sounds like double RR and you roll those R a lot (that's why I wrote those words with a lot of Rs).

[@johnwilliams7540]

3:37 in and I'm 100x better already 😂. Thanks!

[@slandberg1958]

The method I learned was to practice the tongue movement by going "diddy diddy diddy diddy doddy doddy doddy doddy, deddy deddy deddy" and so on with all the vowel sounds for at least a month. After a month or so, I could get a few flips and would just practice the rr sound with different words. It probably would work better combined with your method.

[@MegaCityPatrol]

This is one of the most informative videos I've found, on explaining where the rolled r occurs and when to use it. I've just started learning Spanish and I surprised myself by managing to figure it out very quickly over a couple of days by doing a singer's trick which is to use the breath from the diaphragm. I really could not roll my Rs at all before this. The way I found was to put a hard *C* in front of a word like *rapido* to make *CRAPido* (ha ha) , send a blast of air from your diaphragm *NOT* your chest and then slowly try and cut away the *C* which acted like training wheels. By using the diaphragm you are removing tension from the mouth and tongue which might otherwise occur if you try and push air from your chest, because you will naturally default to trying to pushing with your throat. Words that start with *R* are easy (rojo, radio) but perro, sonreir are still tricky although you have confirmed that the best way to practice is to break up the word into chunks until you have the coordination down.

[@MelC-td9bg]

Wow, it's so much easier using the diaphragm. Thank you!

[@cereal_ofc]

I just started Spanish classes this year! I don't know if you even still respond to comments lol (if you don't know totally fine) but can you roll your R's with a spacer in? Just asking! ^^

[@BreakthroughSpanish]

Is a spacer like a retainer? Probably would be harder but doable. Don’t worry about it being perfect, it can take a long time to learn

[@cereal_ofc]

@@BreakthroughSpanish Basically yeah, and thank you! Your tips really do help!!

[@Isaileee]

I've been able to roll my r's since I was a child but I assumed it was just some weird mouth noise, maybe 6 years ago I realized that my weird mouth noise was probably rolling my r so I asked a family friend if that's what it was and she told me no. I am just now watching this video realizing that I was in fact rolling my r's and was lied to for some reason, thanks for this video.