You may be familiar with adjectives in English as describing words; adjectives add information about nouns. In BSL, they do exactly the same however adjectives need to be visually descriptive to be accurate, for example the sign for HOT could be signed as a finger across the forehead for heat that makes you sweat or a flat hand wafting in front of your mouth (with your mouth open) for spicy food.
Non-manual features can add intensity when signing adjectives. For example, when signing EXPENSIVE you shake and open flat hand and puff your lips and to sign VERY EXPENSIVE your hand movements become quicker and you puff your lips even more.
Useful adjectives
Video demonstration
Good to know
BSL sentences are structured in the topic-comment format. A noun in a sentence is usually the topic and the adjective is the comment, i.e. use adjective signs after the noun.
Here’s some example sentences including adjectives:
| ENGLISH | BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE (BSL) |
| A red ball | BALL RED |
| A big house | HOUSE BIG |
| An angry man | MAN ANGRY |
| A blue sky | SKY BLUE |
| A yellow flower | FLOWER YELLOW |
| A young student | STUDENT YOUNG |
| A delicious cake | CAKE DELICIOUS |
| A spicy curry | CURRY SPICY |
| A loud noise | NOISE LOUD |
Exercise
Try to change these statements in English to BSL’s structure. Don’t worry if you don’t know the signs, this exercise is designed to get you thinking about BSL’s structure.
1. A purple dress
2. A green apple
3. A happy child
4. A thin person
5. A big pizza
Scroll down for the answers.
Important information
In BSL, classifiers are handshapes that serve multiple functions. One key function is to represent characteristics of nouns, such as size and shape. Through these handshapes, an adjective can be incorporated into the sign for the noun itself, effectively combining the noun and descriptive element into one sign. For example, instead of using separate signs for a big ball you could modify the sign for BALL by extending the outline of the ball to indicate a larger size. We’ll delve deeper into classifiers in Section 4; at this point, it’s important to remember there are various ways to express adjectives in BSL.
ANSWERS
1. A purple dress is signed DRESS PURPLE
2. A green apple is signed APPLE GREEN
3. A happy child is signed CHILD HAPPY
4. A thin person is signed PERSON THIN
5. A big pizza is signed PIZZA BIG
Key points to remember
1. When signing adjectives, remember to make use of your non-manual features. The more visually descriptive you are the better.
2. Some English words have multiple meanings and can be used in a range of different contexts. In BSL, it’s important to use a sign that is visually appropriate to the context.
3. Adjectives are signed after nouns in BSL sentences.
Useful downloads and links
A PDF version of this page will be available to download soon.