Form a 'Y' handshape with your dominant hand by extending your thumb and pinky while keeping your index, middle, and ring fingers curled. Start with your hand in front of you, palm facing down. Bring your hand downward in a firm, single motion.
Sign 'THAT' using the firm downward motion with your 'Y' handshape, followed by 'MY' and 'BOOK'. If the book is in the room, you can also simply point to it to establish what 'that' is.
Sign 'THAT' with a crisp downward drop, then sign 'GREAT' and 'IDEA'. Make sure your facial expression matches the enthusiasm and excitement of the sentence.
Sign 'I', 'WANT', and then 'THAT' using the 'Y' handshape moving downward. You can direct the downward motion slightly toward the object you are referring to for added clarity.
Sign 'THAT' using the firm downward motion with your 'Y' handshape, followed by 'MY' and 'BOOK'. If the book is in the room, you can also simply point to it to establish what 'that' is.
Sign 'THAT' with a crisp downward drop, then sign 'GREAT' and 'IDEA'. Make sure your facial expression matches the enthusiasm and excitement of the sentence.
Sign 'I', 'WANT', and then 'THAT' using the 'Y' handshape moving downward. You can direct the downward motion slightly toward the object you are referring to for added clarity.
In ASL, you typically use the exact same sign for both 'that' and 'that's'. ASL does not use the English 'is' (the 's in that's), so the single downward motion with the 'Y' handshape covers both concepts depending on your sentence's context.
Yes! Pointing (indexing) is a grammatically correct and very common way to say 'that' in ASL, especially if the object is physically present in the room. The 'Y' handshape sign is often used for abstract concepts or things not currently present.
The 'Y' handshape is used in several ASL signs that point out or establish specific things. While it shares the handshape with the English letter 'Y', it is not an initialized sign for the word 'that', but rather a classifier-like shape used for specification.
