A Grammar of German Sign Language (DGS)

In DGS, there is no tense inflection on verbs. Instead, time is expressed by time adverbials that mostly occur sentence-initially [see Lexicon 3.5.2 and Syntax 6.4.2.1].

 

Nevertheless, in some dialects of DGS, the sign pst gewesen (‘been’), which can be signed with one or both hands as shown below, can be used as a marker of past tense.

 

pst       

 

                       

           

pst indicates that the described action has already taken place and it is either positioned sentence-finally as in example a) or after the subject as shown in b). Furthermore, pst can occur together with time adverbials that specify the time point as presented in example c).

 

a.           poss₁ friend already ix(loc)_aamerica pst            

‘My friend was in America before.’

 

 

 

b.           frankfurt poss₁ train pst cancel

‘My train was canceled in Frankfurt.’

 

 

 

c.       yesterday ix₁ cinema visit pst                   

‘Yesterday I visited the cinema.’

  (based on Papaspyrou et al., 2008: 155)