How to sign "alone" in American Sign Language (ASL)?
Definition: Having no one else present; on one's own.
Pronunciation (sign description): Dominant upright index finger held in neutral space moves in small circular motion.
This sign may be spatially inflected in agreement with the pronoun in an ASL sentence.
Q: I am wondering if there is a difference between the signs for "something", "always" and "alone". "Alone" seems to have a smaller hand motion, but the signs for "something" and "always" seem identical. Are they? Or am I missing some sort of subtle difference?
Subtle differences, sometimes inflections, and mostly contexts. Read about homonyms in sign language.
Related signs: SINGLE, LONE, SOLITARY, SOLO.
leave alone:
Meaning (leave alone): to allow (someone) to be by himself or herself; to refrain from annoying or interfering with.
This verb may be inflected in agreement with the pronouns.
Meaning: "Leave me alone." The palm orientation and direction in this video is different from the other.
First 100 words.
As you feel more comfortable with the first few hundreds of ASL signs, progress further with your vocabulary and learn signing more.