WANT in sign language

So, you want to learn American Sign Language? Whether it's one's first language or second language, the word "want" is definitely one of the first words to learn.

ASL sign for "want"

It's good to know how to sign "want" in American Sign Language (ASL).

Meaning: To have a desire to possess or do (something); wish for.

Pronunciation (sign description): Two-handed "loose-5" held in mid-space, palms up, drawn backward at the same time the handshape of the hands forms into the "claw" shape.

Usage: Pretty much anything when you mean "want".

Beyond basics

You may notice some Deaf signers inflecting "want" to convey a synonym, such as "really want", "want so badly", "wanna?" and such. And, even the opposite NOT-WANT.

Toddler signing "want"

Can't imagine a toddler without the word "want" in their core of vocabulary in any language. There were so many video clips that I had to cut down a number of them.

The bilingual ASL-speaking toddler "Juli" began to use "want" a lot during the second and third years, like most toddlers. At age 2;1, she wanted to tell me something she wanted and then immediately turned her head around so that she couldn't see me say "no". Notice the one-handed version at age 2;5. Also notice how she used the classifier for the car to describe the direction. At age 2;8, she emphasized when signing "want". At age 3;1, she didn't want to use the baby grocery cart. Rather, she wanted to ride in the regular cart instead. Big girl, ha.

Vocabulary

Related signs: DESIRE, CRAVE, NEED, WISH, LONG FOR, YEARN.

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.