To sign "last night", start by signing "night": hold your non-dominant arm horizontally across your chest, palm facing down. Tap the back of your non-dominant wrist with your flat dominant hand, palm also facing down. Then, move your dominant hand up and backward over your dominant shoulder, keeping your hand flat with the palm facing back, to indicate the past.
Start by signing 'last night' with the fluid motion from 'night' to 'past.' Then, point to yourself for 'I,' sign 'sleep' by drawing your hand down over your face, and finish with 'good' from your chin.
Sign 'last night,' point to the person for 'you,' and sign 'study' by wiggling your fingers over your non-dominant palm. Since this is a yes/no question, make sure to keep your eyebrows raised throughout the entire sentence.
Begin with the sign for 'last night' to establish the timeframe first. Then, sign 'rain' by bringing both hands downward with your fingers slightly curved, mimicking the motion of raindrops falling from the sky.
Start by signing 'last night' with the fluid motion from 'night' to 'past.' Then, point to yourself for 'I,' sign 'sleep' by drawing your hand down over your face, and finish with 'good' from your chin.
Sign 'last night,' point to the person for 'you,' and sign 'study' by wiggling your fingers over your non-dominant palm. Since this is a yes/no question, make sure to keep your eyebrows raised throughout the entire sentence.
Begin with the sign for 'last night' to establish the timeframe first. Then, sign 'rain' by bringing both hands downward with your fingers slightly curved, mimicking the motion of raindrops falling from the sky.
Yes, signing "past" followed by "night" is another very common and acceptable way to express "last night." However, the variation shown in this video—signing "night" and then moving into "past"—is also widely used. Practice the version shown here, but be prepared to see both in conversation.
No, your non-dominant hand is only needed as a base for the "night" portion of the sign. Once your dominant hand finishes tapping your wrist and begins moving backward over your shoulder for "past," your non-dominant hand can naturally drop back down to your side.
In American Sign Language, time is represented spatially around your body. The space in front of you is the future, the space right at your body is the present, and the space behind you is the past. Moving your hand backward visually places the event in the past.
