English: I'm hungry. When will breakfast arrive?

(ASL: Hungry. Breakfast arrive: When?)

Hungry.

"C" handshape moves down the chest. The intensity of movement and facial expression tells whether you're a little hungry, or whether we're talking kwashiorkor here.

The same sign also means "wish," "desire," or "yearning," just as "hunger" can mean in English.

You could follow this with the sign for "I/me," or omit it. If you don't sign a subject in a declarative sentence, the "I" is understood.

 

 

Breakfast

This is a compound of "food-morning." The flattened "O" hand taps the lips, it then moves forward and down and shifts to an open "B" hand. Meanwhile the non-dominant hand is inserted into the crook of the elbow (representing the horizon). The dominant hand then moves back upward representing the rising sun.

An alternate way of signing breakfast is to use the "B" hand (instead of the flattened "O" handshape) to sign "food," but that is similar to a sign for "be" used in signed English, as well as a sign for "bitch," so you may want to become familiar with those, too, before using it.

Arrive

The dominant open "B" hand, palm back, moves from the dominant shoulder forward. Its back touches (arrives at) the palm of the non-dominant hand, also palm back.

This is similar to the sign for "good" (dominant hand starts at the mouth) and "birth" (dominant hand starts at the abdomen).

 

When?

The dominant index finger circles the non-dominant index finger, then touches its tip. The signer leans forward and furrows the brows to indicate a question that requires information.

It's important to realize that this only means "at what time?" In English, the word "when" is also is used in adverbial phrases like, "I'll telephone you when pigs fly." In sign language, you would use the sign for "happens." (Happens pigs fly, I-telephone-you.)

 

 

Movies displayed on this page (except as noted below) are links to the American Sign Language Browser ©2000 Michigan State University Communication Technology Laboratory. All rights reserved.

The .gif image for breakfast is a link to Harley's Public Services Pages / Begin to Learn Sign Language ©Harley R. Lee.

The link to the sign for "bitch" goes to HandSpeak, ©1996-2000 Jolanta A. Lapiak, part of Deaf World Web. All rights reserved.

Text of this page ©2000 Eileen K. Carpenter, MD

Back to phrases

Eileen K. Carpenter Home Page