Hey signers! Welcome to Learn How to Sign. We are so excited that Skillshare is sponsoring
today's video, more about them and our new course later. Today we are focusing on the
basics of ASL sentence structure. I'm going to show you the differences between English
and ASL sentence structure and towards the end of the video, I am going to quiz you so be sure to
have something to write with handy. To learn even more vocabulary to put into ASL sentence structure
be sure to subscribe and be notified because we're making videos like this every week. So let's
learn how to sign ASL sentence structure. Today we're going to be focusing on four main areas,
topic-comment, rhetorical questions, yes/no questions, and wh-questions.
This video is just scratching the surface of ASL structure. Let us know down in the
comments if you want more videos like this so we can dive deeper into ASL sentence structure.
In topic-comment structure this is the basic of ASL structure. Now when you think of topic-comment,
it's literally just that. You are going to take the topic of the sentence and then comment about
it. For instance, we have the English sentence, I sleep in on the weekends. What is the topic of
the sentence? The topic is weekend and then you comment about what you are doing on the weekend
and that is sleeping in. So the sentence structure would be 'Weekend me sleep in me.' Let's look at
another sentence. My son is hungry. What is the topic of the sentence? The topic would be son,
so this is how you would sign it. 'My son hungry.' Now you might have noticed whenever I am signing
the topic, I am going to pause before I comment, such as, my son [pause] hungry and when I'm
commenting about it I nod my head down affirming that's what he is. So let's take a negation.
For instance the sentence, I don't like ice cream. What is the topic? Ice cream,
but I don't like does a negation with it. So this is how we'd sign the sentence, 'ice cream
I don't like I.' In that case we wouldn't not our head we would shake it because it's a negation.
But the sentence structure is still the same. You take the topic, pause and then end it with a
comment either affirming it, like my son is hungry or negating it like, I don't like something.
Now notice in a few of these sentences when I'm talking about myself I'm pointing back to myself
at the end this is called a closing signal. You can either point back to yourself or to
somebody else when asking a question. This closing signal shows that you are done with your thought.
Think of a closing signal as when our voice trails off and we're done with a sentence. You know
that somebody's done when their voice inflection changes at the end of a sentence. This is the same
for ASL, pointing back to yourself is showing that you are done with that thought or pointing back to
somebody shows that you're done with asking them a question which we'll cover in just a second.
Our course is available for you right now but even better than that our sponsorship with Skillshare
is allowing you to take our course for free. Yes! You heard that right, FREE! We have partnered up
with Skillshare, an online learning platform that offers thousands of inspiring classes
for creative and curious people on various topics such as fine arts, design, photography,
crafts, and you guessed it sign language. The first 1,000 people to use this link will get
a one month free trial of Skillshare. Not only will you have access to exploring
everything in our introduction to ASL class but your membership will get unlimited access
to thousands of inspiring classes with hands-on projects and feedback from a community of millions.
When you visit our course on Skillshare you will be guided from start to finish over the basics of ASL.
Not only are we offering vocabulary and lessons but also activities for you to practice
and review after your lesson is complete. We know you will love it so click down below and sign up
for your one month free membership on Skillshare right now and start Learning How to Sign.
Next let's talk about rhetorical questions. As we know rhetorical questions do not require an answer.
The person who is giving the information is then going to give the answer.
So in ASL a rhetorical question is going to use one of our wh-words. Wh-words are who, what, when,
where, why, which, and how. Those words are going to act as a bridge in the sentence but typically
you're going to see why used as the bridge for the word because. So let's take this sentence, I'm not
going to the party because I have to study for a test. So in ASL it would be signed, 'me
not going', we're using the sign go but shaking our head no to negate it, 'party, why' and this why
is replacing the word because 'test study me,' and that me at the end is that closing signal. So when
we're looking at this sentence you use that word why to replace because like we just talked about.
Now this can be used for all of those wh-words but when you're doing it you must sign the sign,
lean forward, and eyebrows go up. This is important in all rhetorical questions. So let's take another
sentence. I got to work on time because I drove fast. 'Me arrive work on time how drive fast me.'
Notice in that rhetorical question even though I didn't use the sign
why, I used a wh-word. I leaned forward and put my eyebrows up then I completed the sentence
and then ended it with a closing signal. 'Me arrive work on time how drive fast me.'
Now let's look at a yes/no question. When signing yes/no questions, there are a few
important features. You need to make sure that your eyebrows go up, you're ending it with you and
you are leaning forward. For example, the English sentence. Do you like ice cream? First you're going
to sign 'you' and notice I'm already leaning forward and my eyebrows are going up 'ice cream like you'?
In that sentence my eyebrows went up, I leaned forward and ended with the sign you because I'm
asking somebody a yes/no question. Here's another yes/no question. Are you hearing? In this sentence
you would sign 'you hearing you.' As you can see yes/no questions are very simple in its form.
Make sure that your eyebrows go up you sign you and you're leaning forward.
Let's look at wh-questions. Wh-questions incorporate who, what, when, where, why, which, and how
into their sentences. When you're signing this your eyebrows go down and the wh-word goes at the end
of the sentence. Let's look at some examples. Is your favorite season summer or winter?
In the sentence, you'll sign 'you prefer summer, winter which you'? Notice
my eyebrows are going down and I'm ending it with a wh-question as well as a closing signal
because I'm asking that person a question. Another example is, what is your name. 'You name what you?'
Again our wh-word is at the end of the sentence with our eyebrows going down. Now I'm going to sign
a few sentences for you and you decide which kind of sentence structure it is. Sentence number one.
If you chose rhetorical question you're correct. Sentence number two.
If you chose wh-questions great job!
Sentence number three.
If you guessed topic-comment you've got it sentence. Number four.
If you chose yes/no question great job! If you're needing help putting an English sentence into ASL,
leave it down in the comments and we'll reply with the correct ASL sentence structure. If you love
today's video be sure to hit that like button and go and check out our website learnhowtosign.org
where you can sign up for a newsletter and get all the inside scoop on our merch and our new course.
And speaking of our course, thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring today's video. Don't forget to hit
the link in the description and check it out today. Until next time keep learning how to sign 🤟