hello my name is Victoria and when I
teach American Sign Language at speak
lesson in this video you're going to
learn the basics of ASL sentence
structure we'll go over how to sign full
sentences using the time topic comment
rule to keep watching and don't forget
to check out our free online ASL classes
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so English sentence structure and ASL
sentence structure differ quite a bit
most of the time in English for example
we will be able to say the magic tense
before the objects in ASL we'll set up
our object first and then give the edge
tip this is what we call topic comments
so you're setting things up your object
your subject whatever it is and then
telling what it does describing how it
looks how it feels whatever it may be
all those things are part of your
comments so that's a big way that
English and ASL differ grammatically if
you're wondering how to form sentences
in ASL we have a general sentence
structure which is time topic comments
in English that doesn't matter so much
whether time comes first or whether it
comes at the end because we have those
little words like is at in on all those
signs that don't really exist in ASL so
to avoid having to explain further we
put our time at the beginning so if we
have a time word that could be three
o'clock that could be yesterday every
day
all of those are examples of time words
so whatever your time is in your
sentence you're going to move that to
the beginning then you're gonna find
your topic and then describe it
so verbs and adjectives basically you
can think of it this way if you are
painting a picture you had a canvas you
wouldn't throw the color on there first
and then go back and outline
but first you would outline and then
paints so really it's the same thing in
ASL we're setting up our objects and
then describing it as much as we need to
so here are some examples of using time
topic comments let's say you were saying
you were moving to a big city next year
we would put our time at the beginning
so that's next year next year city would
come next because it is our topic city
then we'll describe the city big I'm
moving so again next year
city big I'm moving let's take another
sentence the class was great this
morning this morning is going to be our
time this morning or now morning class
is your topic and then you describe
great so this morning class
great our last example my brother got
sick yesterday so identify your time
that's yesterday yesterday your topic is
my brother my brother and then got sick
is your comment become or got sick
so yesterday my brother got sick so now
let's talk about signing pronouns when
you are creating sentences in ASL so
basically the way we do this is by
identifying who or what we're talking
about first once someone is set up
whether it's mom whether it's sister
whether it's your friend whoever it is
use them in their own sentence or within
the same sentence and then points that
would be he she they me you this is what
we call indexing basically it's using
your index finger to point out the
individuals who you've already set up so
now what if your sentences need to be in
the past or future tense what do you do
if you're signing normally that means
you're automatically signing in the
present tense so we have two signs for a
past and future this is test and this is
future so every time we're adding past
we can either put it before or after the
word that we're trying to make into past
tense so for example if it was I went to
school I past go to school or I am going
to school I go school will or future we
usually tend to put the will at the end
and past can go either before or after
so if you are going to form question
sentences your grammar is just a little
bit different your question words need
to go at the
dissonance so who what when where why
and how are your basic question words so
let's review those who what when
where why how
now let's give you some examples let's
say you wanted to ask where do you live
you would say you live or live where you
live where again always putting your
question word at the end of your
question sentence let's talk a little
bit about negation in ASL this might be
a new term for you basically negation is
showing the no showing the negative in
ASL instead of saying things like don't
not those are not always necessary to
sign in ASL we have a default sign like
this but again it's not always necessary
for example here is the sign to like if
I wanted to make that don't like I
wouldn't sign don't like I would say
don't like I'm shaking my head my facial
expressions show that it's a negative
and I'm also throwing it out here's
another one I understand looks like this
I understand if you want to say I do not
understand
I do not understand you'll see it's the
same exact signs you're just showing
that it's a negative with your facial
expressions your body language and of
course shaking your head so sometimes
you will come across sentences that are
not so simple they're gonna have a lot
more than one time one topic and one
comment so what do you do let's say you
have something like a location where do
you place that here's an example if you
don't have a time in your sentence you
would replace that with your location
word or phrase so for example if it was
the Apple is in the kitchen I would sign
kitchen first because there is no time
and then go on to say that there's an
apple but that's just one example
sometimes you have both time topic
comment location and more so when that
happens we use a lot of rhetorical
questions so for example tomorrow I'm
going to school Y or with who or let's
say we had two locations I might say
we're either way when you confront those
times where you have a lot of location
words you might want to use your
rhetorical questions this is a more
advanced concept so I encourage you to
start from the beginning and stay
dedicated what are some common mistakes
that beginners make sometimes it's just
forgetting the time comes first or
putting your topic before your comment
it's as simple as that it's just out of
order and it's in English word order so
this is something that we all have to
work really hard to do if we're native
English speakers because we think in
English so naturally the signs are going
to want to come out exactly the way we
were thinking them so instead
of letting yourself sign English word
order words are word for a word sit back
take a minute think about it find your
time or your location put it at the
beginning and then things will be much
smoother do you have any more questions
about word order in ASL leave a comment
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