3.1.2.1. Dual

The dual number shows the participation of two entities in Spanish Sign Language (LSE), expressed through pronouns, numerals, and other means. Some verbs can be inflected and modify their articulation to indicate this number. LSE uses two mechanisms of verbal inflection to express the dual:

  • Repetition (also called reduplication) of the verb once.
  • Addition of the non-dominant hand in one-handed signs.

Example (1) illustrates the dual object marked through repetition.

(1) m-a-r-i-aleft l-u-i-sright MAYOR COUNCIL APPOINTleft APPOINTright (The mayor appointed Maria and Luis as councilmen)

In (1), the verb APPOINT begins both times at the mayor's location and ends at each councilman's assigned location.

Example (2) shows dual subject marking through the addition of the non-dominant hand to a one-handed sign.

(2) H1 a-n-t-o-n-i-oleft l-o-l-aright MONEY rightGIVEme 
H2 leftGIVEme

 (Antonio and Lola give me money)


In (2), the verb GIVE, typically articulated with only the dominant hand, is signed simultaneously with the non-dominant hand to show that I received money from both Antonio and Lola.

These same resources are also used with classifiers to mark dual subjects or objects. The verb's handshape adapts to represent the object being handled. As shown in examples (3) and (4), both the dominant and non-dominant hands adopt the classifier handshape referring to the book.

(3) H1 l-u-i-s-aleft j-u-l-i-a-nright I BOOK CL:meGIVE-BOOKleft
H2 I BOOK CL:meGIVE-BOOKleft  

(I have given a book to Luisa and Julian respectively)

(4) l-u-i-s-aleft j-u-l-i-a-nright I BOOK CL:PILE-OF-BOOKS CL:meGIVE-BOOKleft CL:meGIVE-BOOKright (From the pile of books, I have given one book to Luisa and another to Julian)


In (3), both hands move simultaneously to show concurrent actions, while in (4), the book is delivered sequentially to two people.

For backward verbs, these same techniques apply. In (5), the verb INVITE is repeated to show the dual object. The sign begins at each object's location (Brazil and Germany) and ends at the subject's location (me).

(5) CONFERENCE BRAZILleft GERMANYright leftINVITEme rightINVITEme (I have invited Brazil and Germany to the conference)

Examples (1) and (5) illustrate bimanual verbs  (signs that use both hands). When marking the dual with bimanual verbs, the sign must be repeated twice, once for each entity, due to a phonological constraint: two bimanual signs cannot be performed simultaneously.

In cases of single argument agreement, one-handed verbs can be articulated with both hands simultaneously to mark the dual number. In (6), the addition of the non-dominant hand indicates the dual subject.

(6) H1 c-a-m-i-l-aleft b-o-r-j-aright GROWright (Camila and Borja grow) 
H2 GROWleft 

Fernández-Soneira, A. y Villameriel García, S. (2025). Morphology: verbal inflection: agreement: number markers: dual. En S. Villameriel García (Ed.), Gramática de la Lengua de Signos Española (GramLSE) / Grammar of Spanish Sign Language (GramLSE). Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad-Centro de Normalización Lingüística de la Lengua de Signos Española. Recuperado el dd de mes de aaaa de https://cnlse.es/es/recursos/gramlse/ingles/index/morphology/chapter-3-verbal-inflection/3-1-agreement/3-1-2-number-markers/3-1-2-1-dual/