Skip to content
All lessons
Level 3 · Structure · lesson 17 of 21

Directional verbs

Verbs that carry who-did-what-to-whom in their movement — no pronouns needed.

5 signs·About 18 minutes

Focus

The verb points

HELP moved from you toward me means 'you help me'; reversed, 'I help you'. The subject and object live in the direction of the movement. This is where ASL stops mapping onto English word-for-word.

Setting up space

You place people and things at points in the space in front of you, then aim verbs between those points. Learning to 'furnish' your signing space is the core Level 3 skill.

Signs in this lesson

Open any sign for its full history, sources and minimal pairs.