Signing For Dummies (8 page)

Your facial expressions can describe things and actions in ASL. For instance, if something is small or big, you can show the extent of it as you sign without actually signing “small” or “big.” Instead, use facial expressions. For example, you can describe a small piece of thread by pursing your lips, blowing out a little air and closing your eyes halfway. If something is very thick, puff out your cheeks. You can convey that it’s raining hard or that a car is moving fast by moving your eyebrows or shaping your mouth a certain way. (Turn to
Chapter 1
for a discussion about using expressions and body language.)

The following examples give you a good idea of some of the different facial expressions you may use to get your point across when describing things in Sign:

Some adverbs used in English are not usually used in Sign, such as the words “very” and “really.” You have to incorporate them into the verb by using facial expressions.

Talking Tenses

To communicate tenses in Sign, you need your hands
and
your body. Think of your body as being in the present tense — it’s a fairly safe assumption, we hope.

Showing tense in ASL is partly a matter of where you sign in relation to your body.

Signing in
present tense
is pretty simple — you sign close to your body, just like you normally do in a signed conversation. That’s all there is to it!

Signing in
past tense
is just a bit trickier. To place everything you sign into past tense, you sign
finish
at chest level either at the beginning or end of the sentence while saying the word “fish,” a shortened version of “finish.” This signals that everything has already happened. Although it doesn’t matter whether you sign the word finish at the beginning or end of the sentence, most Signers place it at the beginning.

You can also use the finish sign when making an exclamation. (For more on this Sign’s uses, see the section titled, “
Exclaiming in Simple Sentences
,” later in this chapter.)

Participles
(“to” plus a verb) and
perfect tenses
(should have been, etc.) are technically passive tenses, which are not used in ASL, as explained in “
Explaining the Parts of Speech
” earlier in this chapter.

Signing in
future tense
works pretty much the same way as signing in past tense. You indicate future tense by signing and saying
will
at the end of a sentence. The farther you sign the word will from the front of your body, the farther into the future you go. Here’s an example:

English:
He can go later.

Sign:
HE GO — WILL

You can also sign
will
to show affirmation. For example:

English:
Mike is walking over to my house.

Sign:
MY HOUSE — M-I-K-E — WALKING — WILL

You can easily sign an event that is going to happen in the future. A simple rule to follow: Mention what is planned or intended, then sign “will.”

Here’s a time-sensitive concept that doesn’t quite fit into past, present, or future. To show that you’re not yet finished or that you haven’t even started a task, sign the unaccomplished deed, then sign
not yet
while shaking your head slightly from side to side, as if saying “no,” at the end of the sentence. You don’t pronounce “not yet,” though; you simply sign it. The following sentence gives you an idea of how you can use this expression: