American Sign Language: Negation

In American Sign Language, you make a sign or a statement negative by:

• shaking your head
• frowning
• some people use the sign "not"

These negative expressions do not require a separate manual sign. They are used along with signs that have a negative connotation like "can't," or "refuse."

For example, to sign "I'm not happy," you would sign "I HAPPY" while shaking your head negatively.