LAST in sign language

Be aware of different meanings that come with different ASL signs whether you mean "last night" as in "yesterday" and "last night" as in the "the last thing that will not appear or happen again." Or something that continues in time.

ASL signs for "last"

Here is how to sign "last" in American Sign Language whether it's the night before or the thing that will not appear again.

Meaning: Coming after all others in time or order; final.

Pronunciation (sign description): Horizontal dominant "i" hand hovers a little above the horizontal non-dominant "i" hand. The tip of the pinkie moves down flicking the tip of the passive (non-dominant) pinkie.

For example, if signing LAST WEEKEND in this context, it means the final one, not the previous weekend. No more weekends after this last one.

Context/usage examples: "going to the beach for the last week of June", "this is the last book we have in stock".

ASL words have their own one-word or compound signs for some English two words with "last" in them. For example, "last year", "last minute", etc.


Meaning: On the last occasion before the present; previously.

Pronunciation (sign description): Dominant flat hand with palm facing the shoulder moves toward the dominant shoulder.

For example in this context, when saying "last weekend" in English as in the previous weekend, it's signed (glossed) as PAST WEEKEND in ASL, not LAST WEEKEND which means the final weekend.

Context/usage example: "slept late last night", "she got married last July", "the last person to know".


Meaning: (of a process, activity, or state of things) continue for a specified period of time.

Pronunciation (sign description): Two-handed "10" hands with both thumbs in contact and palms down move forward simultaneously.

Usage example: "the performance art lasted 25 minutes", "nothing lasts forever".

Phrases

For at last as in "at the end of a period of time", see FINALLY.

First 100 words.

  1. again
  2. also
  3. ask
  4. bad
  5. boy
  6. but
  7. can
  8. come
  9. deaf
  10. different
  11. drink
  12. drive
  13. eat
  14. email
  15. excuse
  16. family
  17. feel
  18. few
  19. find
  20. fine
  21. fingerspell
  22. finish
  23. food
  24. for
  25. forget
  26. friend
  27. get
  28. girl
  29. give
  30. go
  31. good
  32. have, has, had
  33. he
  34. hearing
  35. hello
  36. help
  37. home
  38. how
  39. Internet
  40. know
  41. later
  42. like (feeling)
  43. little
  44. live
  45. man
  46. many
  47. me
  48. meet
  49. more
  50. my
  51. name
  52. need
  53. new
  54. no
  55. not
  56. now
  57. ok, okay
  58. old
  59. other
  60. please
  61. remember
  62. same
  63. say
  64. school
  65. see
  66. she
  67. should
  68. sign, signed word
  69. slow
  70. some
  71. sorry
  72. store
  73. take
  74. tell
  75. text, sms
  76. thank, thank you
  77. their
  78. they
  79. think
  80. time
  81. tired
  82. try
  83. understand
  84. use
  85. wait
  86. want
  87. what
  88. when
  89. where
  90. which
  91. who
  92. why
  93. will
  94. with
  95. woman
  96. work
  97. write
  98. yes
  99. you
  100. your

As you feel more comfortable with the first few hundreds of ASL signs, progress further with your vocabulary and learn signing more.