American Sign Language

Sign Language: Time

Time

DAY: 

is made by holding your non-dominant arm (the left arm for most people) in front of you, palm down, pointing right. Your left hand can be in either a "flat handshape" or an "index finger handshape." Your your dominant hand (the right hand for most people) can be either an "index finger" or a "flat hand." (I don't recommend a "D" hand, that is Signed English.) Rest your right elbow on the back of the left hand. Your right arm should point up. Move your right arm across your body, the hand tracing an arc while keeping the right elbow on or very near the back of the left hand. Note: advanced signers often do very abbreviated versions of signs. For example, they may do the sign for day with the tips of the fingers of left hand touching the midpoint of the right forearm instead of resting the right elbow on the back of the left hand. Also, you might see a different palm orientation on the dominant hand.

Note:  

When signing "DAY" you can use a "flat hand" (which is also sometimes called a "b-palm") instead of an index finger.

DAY (flat hand version)

Sample sentence: "One week has how many days?"

Notes: 

There are many variations for the sign "DAY." For example: "ALL-DAY" 

To sign "all-day," start the flat-handed version of DAY with your dominant "flat hand" further to the right (if you are right handed) prior to moving it.

For an example of "all-DAY" and other variations of DAY, see: "DAY (advanced discussion)"

NIGHT (or "evening") 

is made by holding your non-dominant arm horizontally, palm down, pointing to the side. (If you are right handed that means your left arm would be pointing toward the right.) Put your dominant hand's wrist on the back of your non-dominant hand, fingertips pointing down.  

EVERYNIGHT: 

If you move the right hand along the left arm it is interpreted as meaning "every night" or "nightly."

Question: Is evening and night the same thing?

Answer: Yes, but you can also modify the sign to mean early evening or late at night depending on where you put the dominant hand. Lower (pointing down more) means later.

WEEK: 

has a couple of variations. The basic sign for "week" is made by forming your dominant hand into an index-finger handshape and moving your hand forward over the palm of your non-dominant hand.

Variation:  

The sign WEEK can also be done with the left hand (or non-dominant hand) in an "index finger" handshape, palm facing right. The right hand slides outward over the top/side of the left hand and index finger. If you are holding a drink or a sandwich in your left hand you can even do this sign without the left hand! (Like most signs actually). See "week (advanced)" 

MONTH: 

is made by pointing upward with the index finger of your non-dominant hand. If you are right handed, the palm of the left hand should face right. The palm of the right hand should face back. Trace the right index finger from the top to the bottom of the left index finger.

Note: You can change this sign to mean "monthly," "every-month," or "rent" by repeating the movement. 

You can incorporate numbers (1 though 9) into the sign for month.

Question: How do you sign the individual months of the year?

Answer: Signed English has signs for the months, but in ASL we prefer to show the months of the year via fingerspelling. If the name of the month is short (five or fewer letters) we spell it out. If the name of the month is long (more than five letters) we abbreviate it to just three letters, except for September which is done with four letters, (SEPT).

Here is a list of the way the months indicated via fingerspelling in ASL:

JAN, FEB, MARCH, APRIL, MAY, JUNE, JULY, AUG, SEPT, OCT, NOV, DEC. 

Some people do the sign for "month" with the dominant hand "palm down." While I wouldn't mark it wrong if a student signed it that way, I wouldn't recommend the "palm down" version.

YEAR: 

is made by forming both hands into the letter "S." If you are right handed, rotate your right hand completely around the left. The right hand should come to rest on top of the left.

Memory aid: Think of the earth circling the sun in one year's time.

Note: There is a "casual" way of doing the "YEAR" sign that holds the right hand (if you are right handed) above the left hand and does a very quick, small rotating movement. The difference is in the "casual version: the right hand stays above the left hand and doesn't actually circle the left hand. It comes to rest upon the top of the left hand.

FUTURE: 

is made by slicing a "flat hand" forward through the air. The farther you move your hand, the further into the the future you are referring. This sign can also mean such things as "WILL" as in, "Will you go to college?" (YOU FUTURE COLLEGE YOU?). You can also use a double arching movement to mean "someday" or "the distant future." If you do a single large strong movement it can mean "a long time from now."

Far in the future: 

Use one big strong fast movement.

PAST: 

The sign for "past" is made by moving your dominant hand over your dominant shoulder. Your palm should face your body. The more emphasis you give the motion and/or the larger movement you use indicates further into the past: 

Note: If you mean "before" as in "before you do that you should do this..." you should use the sign PRIOR-before.

NOW / the present / current / contemporary

The sign for "now" is made by placing both of your hands in front of you in "Y" handshapes. Each hand should be pointing upward. Sharply drop both of your hands a short distance.

Note: if you use a small bounce in this sign, it can mean "TODAY."  

Or you can combine the sign "NOW" with "DAY" to mean "TODAY." 

FINISH: 

is made by placing both of your open hands in front of you. Each hand should face you, with your fingers pointing upward. Twist both hands quickly a couple times ending with the palms pointing (somewhat) forward. You can also do this sign with just a single twist which makes it seem more "final."