Feelings are the first place beginners discover that ASL is not just hands. Sign HAPPY with a flat face and a Deaf person will think you are being sarcastic, or that something is wrong. The face is half of every emotion sign, and sometimes more than half. This guide gives you the core feelings, the full "I'm tired" phrases, and the habit of making the face first.
The good-bad scale
Good touches the chin and moves out onto the other palm. Bad starts the same way and flips over. Fine taps an open hand's thumb on the chest. Great pushes two open hands forward with a big face.
These four are your everyday answers to "how are you." Pick one and let your face set the volume.
Happy and sad
Happy brushes open hands up the chest, with a smile. Sad draws open hands down in front of the face, with the face falling with them. The full phrases I'm Happy and I'm Sad add a point to the chest, though in fast signing the point is often dropped: the feeling plus the face is enough.
Tired, excited, nervous
Tired drops bent hands from the chest with the shoulders sagging. Excited circles the middle fingers up the chest, alternating, with bright eyes. Nervous shakes two claw hands. Worry circles open hands in front of the face with a furrowed brow.
Angry and scared
Angry claws a hand in front of the face and pulls it back, with a tight jaw. Scared brings two fists up and opens them at the chest with wide eyes and a slight flinch. Both are signs you will use far more for stories than for yourself.
The bigger feelings
Bored twists an index finger at the side of the nose. Lonely draws an index finger down the lips. Surprise flicks index fingers and thumbs open at the eyes. See the Big Feelings category for jealous, embarrassed, and frustrated.
Intensity without "very"
ASL does not reach for VERY the way English does. To say very happy, make HAPPY bigger, faster, and with a bigger smile. To say a little sad, make SAD smaller with a small frown. Your mouth also helps: pursed lips and a slight squint read as "really," while puffed cheeks read as "a lot."
Asking and answering
YOU FEEL HOW? with the eyebrows down on HOW. Answer with one sign and the matching face. If you want to say why, put the cause after: I TIRED, WORK LONG.
Practice
Run through happy, sad, tired, angry, scared, excited in the mirror, making the face first every time. Then sign TODAY I FEEL and pick one. Do it every morning for a week and you will have a daily check-in habit in ASL.
Next: Days and time so you can say when you felt that way, and the blog post on facial expressions as grammar.