Learn BSL Fingerspelling: The Two-Handed British Alphabet and Which Flashcards to Fix
Master the two-handed BSL alphabet with deck SG3986: vowels on the fingertips, consonants by contact point, and which ASL-style cards to rewrite first.
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The British Sign Language (BSL) manual alphabet is two-handed. Your dominant hand forms letters on and against your other hand, which acts as the base. The Flip It deck SG3986 "BSL Fingerspelling: Alphabet & Numbers" has 33 cards: A–Z, 0–5 and one combined card for 6–9. Each card gives a written description of the handshape. Before you start, know this: many of the letter cards describe the one-handed American (ASL) alphabet, not BSL. This guide shows which cards to keep and which to rewrite.
Study this deck: BSL Fingerspelling: Alphabet & Numbers
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Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
What the deck says vs. what BSL does
| Card | Deck back | BSL reality |
|---|---|---|
| A | Closed fist, palm forward | Index finger touches the thumb of the base hand |
| E | Fingers bent at the knuckles, thumb tucked | Index finger touches the base index fingertip |
| I | Pinky extended upward | Index finger touches the base middle fingertip |
| C | Hand curved in a 'C' shape | ✅ Correct (one of the few one-handed letters) |
| M | Thumb under three fingers, on left palm | Three fingers laid flat on the base palm |
| N | Like M, two fingers | Two fingers on the base palm |
| V | Index and middle in a 'peace sign' | V shape placed on the base palm |
| 6-9 | "Two hands… some regions use ASL variations" | Numbers vary by region; learn your local set |
Keep or rewrite
Rewrite first: A, E, I, O, U (the five vowels), plus D, G, L, S, T, W, X and Y. These cards describe ASL handshapes.
Partly right: F, H, K, M, N, P, R and V mention the base hand, but most of their finger details are ASL. For example, BSL F is two fingers laid across two fingers, not a circle on top of the palm.
Fine: C, and the numbers 0–5, which are one-handed counting shapes.
Tip 1 — learn the vowels as a map of your hand
BSL vowels follow your fingertips in order, from thumb to little finger: A–E–I–O–U = thumb, index, middle, ring, little. Edit the five vowel cards first, then practise spelling vowel-heavy words such as AUDIO and EUROPE. You will touch every fingertip.
Tip 2 — sort the consonants by where they touch
Group your rewritten consonants by contact point:
- on the palm: L, M, N, R, V
- finger to finger: F, X
- hand to hand: G, S, W
- one-handed: C
Contact point, not finger shape, is what tells BSL letters apart. If you are not sure about a letter, check it against the British Deaf Association chart before you rewrite the card.
Related guide
The ASL deck uses the one-handed alphabet these cards borrow from. Compare the two in our guide to the ASL alphabet and its look-alike handshapes. Find deck SG3986 in the library at flip-it.app.
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