How to Say “Duck Duck Goose” in Spanish

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pato, pato, ganso
/ˈpato ˈpato ˈɡanso/word by word
The phrase "duck duck goose" in Spanish is pato, pato, ganso.
This phrase refers to a children's game where players sit in a circle and one person taps heads until choosing a 'goose'.

How do you pronounce it?

The pronunciation is /ˈpato ˈpato ˈɡanso/.

Did you know?

  • While it means 'duck' in the game, the word pato can be used as a slang term for a homosexual man in some Spanish-speaking regions.
  • The word pato has a linguistic history that traces back to the Persian word bat, traveling through Arabic into Spain.
  • While the game uses the word ganso, this word is also used as a slang term in some Spanish-speaking countries to describe a person who is easily fooled or a 'dummy'.

Example conversation

Two children are deciding what game to play at recess.

  1. Lucía

    ¡Hola, Mateo! ¡Juguemos a pato, pato, ganso!
    Hi, Mateo! Let's play duck, duck, goose!
  2. Mateo

    ¡Sí, Lucía! Me gusta mucho ese juego.
    Yes, Lucía! I like that game a lot.
  3. Lucía

    Tú puedes empezar primero.
    You can start first.
  4. Mateo

    Vale, todos siéntense en el círculo.
    Okay, everyone sit in the circle.

Sources

  • IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (pato, ganso) and can differ in connected speech.
  • Word origins: Wiktionary entries ganso, pato, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Wayne Kyle
Wayne KyleHelp make this guide better. Spot a mistake, know another way to say it, or have an example from real life? Share it below.
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Kelly McDowell McD
Kelly McDowell McD
January 2, 2026 09:19

Muchas Gracias Sen̈or Kyle. Es marvioloso aprender Espan̈ol con no mas hablo hablahablamos hanlaiss repita repita liik ap a robot Sorry I need to fix mysetting to include Spanish Soy Kelly McDowell de estado unidos por Cinco an̈os vivo en Oregon MI major Amigas Padres es Guatemalan y ArgentinianConocesla familia since I was 3 years old. I can dedicate more time right now to further explore and learn. I do think in Spanish but not often enough. The collage only offers it online when I was racing my children they had Spanish as second language. I took Spanish in adult ed.Mrs Dutch was writing her own Spanish book and my Spanish 1 at College was taught by Dr.Khayet a linguistics. Iused to check out library books on Mexican food .these books taught me about pulque I believed and dreamed of traveling deep into Mexico to experience these things..I ended up falling in love with a Filipino man that speaks locano.I was never taught in school that there was a trade route between Mexico and th

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