Signs for LATE

ASL sign for LATE
Printable

How do you sign "late" in ASL?

Meaning: doing something or taking place after the expected, proper, or usual time; tardy; not prompt.

ASL Learner Tip #1: Not to be confused with NOT-YET which is produced with the required mouth morpheme "TH".

Tip #2: This sign LATE means tardy, not the same as LATER. These signs are often mixed up by hearing students.

Related signs: TARDY, BEHIND, BEHIND TIME, DELAYED, UNPUNCTUAL.

Opposite: PUNCTUAL.

Minimal Pairs

NMS (non-manual signal): NOT-YET ('TH' mouth morpheme).

Deaf Culture and Hearing Culture in North America

In our observations as Deaf ASL instructors, hearing students typically entered and went straight to their seats in ASL classroom without explaining anything.

Whereas, in Deaf space (e.g. Deaf teacher and Deaf students in classes), a Deaf student who arrives late, usually briefly explains why she/he is late. Bad traffic. Sometimes, they explain nothing for some reason, "Sorry, late". There are exceptions such as conferences, large workshops, etc.

One possible reason for this cultural norm is that everyone knows one another in the close-tight community.

"The part I loved the most was learning that when someone comes into a classroom if he or she is late, it is explained why, as opposed to just rushing in and sitting down. That is so polite and genuine." -- ASL 112 student, 2014.

Politeness is culturally relative and different in cultures. What the very same action may be polite in one culture but may be impolite or inappropriate in another culture.

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.