Beginner I

American manual alphabet

To learn how to fingerspell a series of the alphabetical letters, first learn the American manual alphabet. There are a few ways of learning the manual letters.

ASL or American manual alphabet
American manual alphabet

ASL alphabet video chart

You can watch the videos of the letters along with some tips with their still images of the letters below.

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z.

Letter A

Tip: Pay attention to the thumb for A and S.

ASL Alphabet A

Letter B

ASL Alphabet B

Letter C

ASL Alphabet C

Letter D

Beware of the common confusion between the handshapes of D and F for most learners.

ASL Alphabet D

Letter E

ASL Alphabet E

Letter F

Learner tip: Be aware of the common confusion between F and D. Pay attention to D and F when you spell one of them.

ASL Alphabet F

Letter G

Tip: Make sure your E is clear, keeping the thumb away from the index finger to avoid slipping it into O.

ASL Alphabet G

Letter H

ASL Alphabet H

Letter I

ASL Alphabet I

Letter J

ASL Alphabet J

Letter K

Tip: K and P have different upward/downward palm orientation.

ASL Alphabet K

Letter L

ASL Alphabet L

Letter M

ASL Alphabet M

Letter N

ASL Alphabet N

Letter O

ASL Alphabet O

Letter P

ASL Alphabet P

Signer's perspective

Tip: K and P have different upward/downward palm orientation.

Letter Q

ASL Alphabet Q

Signer's perspective

Letter R

ASL Alphabet O

Tip: Pay attention to the thumb for M and N.

ASL Alphabet R

Letter S

ASL Alphabet S

Tip: Pay attention to the thumb for A and S.

Letter T

ASL Alphabet T

Tip: Pay attention to the thumb for T that is different from M and N.

Letter U

ASL Alphabet U

Letter V

ASL Alphabet V

Letter W

ASL Alphabet W

Letter X

ASL Alphabet X

Signer's perspective

Letter Y

ASL Alphabet Y

Letter Z

ASL Alphabet Z

Download the poster (pdf) of the American manual alphabet.

What is ASL alphabet?

The one-handed American sign language alphabet is a set of 26 manual alphabetical letters, corresponding to the English alphabet. It is used to fingerspell a string of the alphabetical letters of a certain English or any spoken word, people's names, brand names, etc.

There are different manual alphabets around the world. The American manual alphabet with a few modifications is derived from the French manual alphabet of the 18th century. Its cognates can be found in other signed languages' manual alphabets. For example, the German and American manual alphabets are similar; however, ASL and German Sign Language are completely different. For tips, see the bottom.

Why learning the manual alphabet?

Fingerspelling the alphabetical letters is nearly the first thing a beginner learns in sign language for a good reason. When a learner doesn't know the ASL sign, se could fingerspell the English word. Of course, it works when a deaf signer is bilingual in both language -- i.e. ASL and English.

That being said, signed language and spoken language are not the same. Signed languages such as ASL, Australian SL, British SL, etc. are their own languages that are different from English. So, are different manual alphabets around the world.

School teachers love the idea of using fingerspelling in their spelling classes. That means the whole students get to learn the manual alphabet, too.

Fingerspelling activities

Now that you have learned the whole American manual alphabet. Practice spelling your name, your family members' names, your pets' names, etc.

Need to practice and develop your receptive skill in fingerspelling. Try fingerspelling receptive exercise.

More on the alphabetical letters

To learn more about each of the alphabetical letters, including fingerspelling techniques, baby fingerspelling letters, and more, see these links to each letter in the ASL dictionary: A, B, and so on -- you can follow the links or enter the letter in the dictionary search box.

Related posts

Fingerspelling techniques and tips

Interactive receptive fingerspelling practice

First time? Quick how-to.

Search a topic in the filter/browse box or pick a tab for other categories of topics -- Beginners, Boosters, Literary Arts, Kid Signing.

Screenshot of the search instructions

New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.

Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.

Jump-starting

  1. How to fingerspell ABCs
  2. What is and what is not sign language?

Getting started

  1. Benefits of learning sign language
  2. Awareness quiz and Reflections
  3. Basic transcription symbols (glosses)

Language/Culture Fundamentals

  1. What is American Sign Language?
  2. Understanding variations
  3. Introducing audism
  4. Cultural appropriation

Learning first words

  1. Expressing greetings
  2. Introducing oneself and others
  3. Fingerspelling exercise
  4. Expressing goodbyes

ASL Basics

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. WH-questions
  4. Yes/no questions
  5. SVO sentence structure
  6. Numbers 1-10+
  7. Basic time: future, present, past

ASL Basics II

  1. Asking what the sign is for a word
  2. Spatial referencing
  3. Verb inflections
  4. Contrastive structure
  5. Listing and Ranking
  6. OSV sentence structure
  7. Classifier basics

Describing shapes

  1. Describing shapes + perspective
  2. Describing shapes + locations
  3. Describing shapes + sizes

Expressing needs and wants

  1. Making commands or requests

Talking about family

  1. Talking about family and pet
  2. Telling age
  3. Telling date

Making basic plans

  1. Review basic tenses
  2. Calendar: DAYS
  3. Calendar: MONTHS
  4. Transportation: basics

Shopping

  1. Telling prices in dollars and cents

Talking about activities

  1. Frequency of time: how often?

Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series.

Language and communication

  1. Negotiating meanings

Sentence types

  1. Review sentence OSV structure: the triangle
  2. Rhetorical sentence
  3. Conditional sentence

Non-manual signals

  1. Mouth morphemes: distances
  2. Mouth morphemes: sizes

Tenses

  1. Review time basics
  2. Temporal aspects: frequency and duration

Numbers

  1. Review numbers 1-100
  2. Learn numbers 100-1000+
  3. Practice numbers 100-1000+
  4. Numbers mi/billion
  5. Phone numbers
  6. Years
  7. Tell dates

Classifier classes

  1. Review an introduction
  2. Classifier handshapes
  3. Identify different classes
  4. Semantic classifiers
  5. Descriptive classifiers
  6. Body classifier
  7. Body Part classifier
  8. Instrumental classifier
  9. Locative classifier
  10. Elemental classifier

Describing

  1. Describing objects
  2. Describing tables
  3. Describing lamps
  4. Describing a room
  5. How to make a BLT sandwich

Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.

Fables

Fables II

Poem Translations

Stories

Deaf Jokes

Parables

Performance and video arts

Techniques and Devices

This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL as a first language (L1), from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.

Language development

  1. Language acquisition in signing
  2. Language acquisition milestones
  3. Phonological acquisition
  4. Language development: Age 1 to 1.5
  5. Language development: Age 1.5 to 2
  6. Baby sign language: myths debunked

Baby Signing

  1. Eye contact with baby from birth
  2. Cooing in sign language
  3. Eye tracking and gazing
  4. Eye-hand coordination
  5. Gestural pointing and communicative gesture
  6. Marginal babbling
  7. Babbling in sign language
  8. Gesturel pointing for words
  9. Understanding words
  10. Baby's first words
  11. Expressing manners and appreciation
  12. Literacy: peekaboo
  13. Literacy: nursery rhymes
  14. Identity and sense of self
  15. Parentese or motherese

Toddler Signing

  1. One-word stage
  2. Recognizing and naming ABCs
  3. Recognizing and naming colors
  4. Two-word stage
  5. Pronouns and reversal errors
  6. Prepositions
  7. Questions
  8. Classifiers
  9. Indicating verbs
  10. Expressing concepts of time
  11. Phonological acquisition: a case study

Preschooler and Kinder

  1. Conditional statements
  2. Conjunctions
  3. Other pronouns
  4. Literacy: writing

From baby to preschooler

  1. Proximalization
  2. Number
  3. Fingerspelling development
  4. Fingerspelling with a CAN attitude
  5. Drawing
  6. Sense of humor