Learn ASL (American Sign Language) Online (ASL 1 – Unit 5)

ASL 1 – Unit 5

In this unit, you will learn ASL word order.

Vocabulary
Colors, Time, & Routine

Visit the Online Course Vocabulary Category for this unit to view videos of these phrases and vocabulary words.

Phrases

• Are you hungry?
• How did you get here?
• I have to go home.
• I took the bus to get to class.
• Interesting.
• What are you doing?
• What is your phone number?
• What time?
• Where do you live?
• Where do you work?

Vocabulary

• AFTERNOON
• ALWAYS
• APPOINTMENT
• BATH
• BLACK
• BLUE
• BRIGHT
• BRING
• BROWN
• BRUSH-TEETH
• CHURCH
• CLEAN
• COLOR
• COOK
• Days of the Week
• DIFFERENT
• EARLY
• FINALLY
• FINISH
• FINISH FINISH
• FRIDAY
• GET-UP
• GRAY
• GREEN
• HOUR
• LEAVE
• MIDNIGHT
• MINUTE
• MONDAY
• MONTH
• Months of the Year
• MORNING
• MOST
• NEVER
• NIGHT/EVENING
• NOON
• NOT-YET
• Numbers 11-20
• ORANGE
• PARK
• PARTY
• PICKUP
• PINK
• PURPLE
• PUT ON MAKEUP
• RED
• SATURDAY
• SHAVE
• SLEEP
• STORE
• SUNDAY
• SWIMMING-POOL
• TEND-to
• THINK-ABOUT
• THURSDAY
• TIME
• TODAY
• TOMORROW
• TUESDAY
• UNTIL
• WAKE-UP
• WEDNESDAY
• WEEK
• WHITE
• WORK
• YEAR
• YELLOW
• YESTERDAY

Conversation

A: YOU LIVE SCHOOL YOU?
“Do you live at the school?”

B: YES I LIVE DORM.
“Yes, I live in the dorm.”

A: EVERYDAY YOU WALK CLASS?
“Do you walk to your class every day?”

B: NO I get-IN #BUS.
“No, I take the bus.”

A: TIME WHAT?
“What time?”

B: APPROX. TIME 8 MORNING
“Around 8 o’clock in the morning.”

Conversation Explained

EVERYDAY YOU WALK CLASS?
“Do you walk to your class every day?”

Time signs such as “today,” “yesterday,” “every day,” “every morning,” etc. are signed at the beginning of sentences. This is because ASL follows a “TIME” “TOPIC” “COMMENT” sentence structure. You will learn ASL “TOPIC” “COMMENT” sentence structure later in this unit. You will learn ASL “TIME” “TOPIC” “COMMENT” structure in more detail in the ASL 2 class.

NO I get-IN #BUS.
“No, I take the bus.”

This sentence is a negative statement. Just like how there are affirmative statements, there are negative statements. You will learn ASL negative statements in Unit 6. Also, notice how Christine used the lexicalized sign for BUS.

TIME WHAT?
“What time?”

This is a wh-word question, but is also commonly signed at “TIME?” with the wh-word question facial expression, without the wh-word.

Word Order

ASL sentences follow a “TOPIC” “COMMENT” structure. This is the same as the English “subject” “predicate” structure. However, instead of the topic always being the subject, the topic in ASL is whatever the comment is referring to. This can either be the subject of the sentence or the object.

The subject of the sentence is the person or object doing the action, the verb of a sentence is the action, and the object of the sentence is what is receiving the action. For example, in the sentence “The boy kicked the ball” the subject is “boy,” the verb is “kicked,” and the object is “ball.”

There are a few different variations of word order in ASL. You can sign in Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order, Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) word order, Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) word order, or even Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) word order.

All of the following sentences are correct in ASL:

“ME GO HOME” (SVO)
“HOME ME GO” (OSV)
“GO HOME ME” (VOS)
“HOME GO ME” (OVS)

In the video below, Cristian will demonstrate the word order variations above:

Word Order Practice 5.1

Turn to page 7 in your workbook. In the video below Cristian will sign 10 simple sentences. Circle the correct word order of each sentence (i.e. SVO, OSV, VOS, or OVS). The first one has been done for you.

Numbers 11-20

Watch the video clip below. I am going to model the numbers 11-20. Practice signing each number.

The numbers 16-19 can be signed either by starting with your palm back and twisting forward twice (“shaking” the numbers 6-9), or by combining 6-9 with the sign for “10” as shown in the video.

Turn to page 7 in your workbook. In the video below, Mando and I are going to sign 10 phrases. Write down the numbers signed in each phrase. The first one has been done for you.

When you’re finished, check your answers in the back of the workbook. Go back and review the questions you missed.

Turn to page 8 in your workbook. Deborah will sign 10 sentences. She will fingerspell a name in each of those sentences. Circle the name that Deborah spelled for each number. The first one has been done for you.

When you’re finished, check your answers in the back of the workbook. Go back and review the questions you missed. Then, go back and fingerspell the correct names for each number for practice.

Vocabulary Quiz: Units 1-5

If you’ve been skimping out on learning your vocabulary, you better go back and study! I am about to quiz you!

Turn to page 8 in your workbook. In the video below, Mark is going to sign a story. During the story, numbers will pop up on the screen. When a number pops up, that is the number that corresponds to the sign Mark is signing at that moment.

Watch the whole video through the first time. Then, go back and watch it again, getting the signs you missed. You can pause the video to give yourself time to write as well as go back and watch a sign again. Write the sign on the line for that number.

When you’re finished, check your answers in the back of the workbook. Go back and review the questions you missed.

Reading Assignment

In DJSC! A Student’s Guide to Mastering ASL Grammar, read Chapter 6 (American Sign Language Syntax), Section 6.1 (Word Order). This section goes a lot more in-depth about word order in ASL. It is very important that you study this section so you can get familiar with all of the different (and sometimes more complicated) word orders used in ASL.

End of Unit 5

You’re done with Unit 5! Keep going! You will learn ASL sentence types in the next unit.