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San, Kun, Chan, Sama, etc, etc..

AnimeLuver

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21 Nov 2003
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When do u use those??? San is like when ever u try to show respect right?
Sama is ummmm.... WHEN????? When do u use sama??
Chan is for girls right??
And kun is for boys??
Tell me!! Need to know!!!
 
im a super super noobie...so someone like Elizabeth will be able to tell you the proper whens and wheres to say these..

but as far as i know -san and -sama are like Mr. or something similar. You use it at the end of a name. Sama is the more formal one i think.

Like "kon'nichi wa, animelover-san" ..something like that i think

hope that helps...(and its correct ;) ) ...

Porl''
 
san is for respect! So u respect me! Yey! lol
But i wanna know exactly every one of the endings!
chan is for girls riiiiiiight? TELL ME!!!!!!
 
-chan is usually used for girls, but can be used for boys.
-kun is usually used for male friends or classmates, but I've heard it used on girls before. Go figure.
-san is the typical honorific.
-sama ...well, you'd probably never use sama unless you were in the service industry. For example, say John Smith went into a car dealership for the first time to buy a car. He'd probably hear "-sama" after his name. He'd also hear the honorary prefix "o-" before the car: "o-kurama." When he'd go back for a service check, though, he'd probably become a "-san" instead of a "-sama."
 
let's see if i can't handle this one...
-sama is top-of-the-line polite. used when addressing superiors, gods (who are superiors...duh), shop keepers addressing their customers, or people being sarcastic who are looking for a slap in the face.
-san is fairly standard, used when addressing someone you don't know well, so in that sense it's polite. it's used for both men and women, but younger boys are generally not called by san. it's a step down from sama.
-kun is usually used when addressing men. if it is used in this sense it implies there is some sort of familirity between the 2 speakers. also, as stated above, young boys are almost always called kun. furthermore, it is used by superiors who are addressing their inferiors, such as a boss to an employee (usually a male employee). i don't know what the deal is with chicks getting called kun. usually between family or very close friends. don't ever call a chick kun unless she's your girl... but even then...
-chan is used to girls or small children (who are just sooo cute). implies closeness between the speakers. often family members are addressed by chan (eg (o)kaa-chan = mother)

there's others as well which you needn't worry about, like -dono (i think), which i couldn't tell you without looking up. there's also various suffixes one can use when insulting people... hope that covered everything. that concludes today's lesson.
 
Originally posted by okaeri_man
let's see if i can't handle this one...
-sama is top-of-the-line polite. used when addressing superiors, gods (who are superiors...duh), shop keepers addressing their customers, or people being sarcastic who are looking for a slap in the face.

What okaeri_man stated is right.
Some examples to use ~sama.
1. Shitsureshimasu ga, tanaka sama de irasshaimasu ka?
Excuse me, are you mr tanaka? (using polite form - sonkeigo)
2. ittai nan sama da to omotterun dai?
Who do you think you are? (sacarstic)
 
In addition,
If you're writing a letter, you always write sama after the name on the address, and you write sama after the name in the greeting. After that, you can get away with writing san in the body of the letter if it's someone you know.
This applies to faxes, too!

In busines letters, the greeting is usually -dono instead of sama.
 
"-dono" lies between "-san" and "-sama" on the politeness scale. However, it's old and almost wouldn't be used at all today.

It's sort of implying respect, but only because you have to. For example, you wouldn't ever say Kami-dono (XD XD XD)...that would be extremely rude.
 
"Kun" can often be heard directed towards both male and female employees by their bosses and "chan" can be directed towards males, but usually only as part of a pet name or nick name.

It usually doesn't hurt to be polite, so just stick with "san" until you get all the rules down.
 
Small corrections:

Shitsureshimasu ga, tanaka sama ha irasshaimasu ka?
ittai nani-sama da to omotterun dai?

(The ha is, of course, pronounced wa.)
 
Originally posted by mdchachi
Small corrections:

Shitsureshimasu ga, tanaka sama ha irasshaimasu ka?
ittai nani-sama da to omotterun dai?

(The ha is, of course, pronounced wa.)
That means, it should be "Excuse me, is Tanaka san in?" rather than "Excuse me, are you Mr Tanaka?", as explained by nata_no, right? Initially, I thought maybe the "de" is used specially to mean "Are you Mr. Tanaka?".
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by beluga
That means, it should be "Excuse me, is Tanaka san in?" rather than "Excuse me, are you Mr Tanaka?", as explained by nata_no, right?
There may be exceptions, but I believe "Tanaka-san desuka" for "are you....?" is standard either in person or on the phone.
 
Originally posted by beluga
That means, it should be "Excuse me, is Tanaka san in?" rather than "Excuse me, are you Mr Tanaka?", as explained by nata_no, right? Initially, I thought maybe the "de" is used specially to mean "Are you Mr. Tanaka?".

Beluga, yeap, you are right.
"de" + "irasshaimasu ka" is used to mean "are you Mr. Tanaka?"
The above is in the polite form - sonkeigo.

As for "Tanaka san desu ka?", this will be less formal and from here, we can see that "san" is used to address Mr. Tanaka instead of "sama".
 
Originally posted by nata_no
Beluga, yeap, you are right.
"de" + "irasshaimasu ka" is used to mean "are you Mr. Tanaka?"
The above is in the polite form - sonkeigo.

As for "Tanaka san desu ka?", this will be less formal and from here, we can see that "san" is used to address Mr. Tanaka instead of "sama".
Never having used it myself, but I believe "de irasshaimasuka" is exceedingly rare. I've only seen it used as 元気でいらっさいますか in fact. If you're not really sure of the person's identity or rank "san" is always the safe choice. It's easy to imagine that mistakenly calling someone of a lower status "irasshaimasu" or "sama" could be a matter of great social disgrace.
 
I read somewhere that you can use kun after a pet name. Like Sweetie-kun or something like that. And of course chan is mostly used between girls who are close friends with each other.
 
Originally posted by okaeri_man
-chan is used to girls or small children (who are just sooo cute). implies closeness between the speakers. often family members are addressed by chan (eg (o)kaa-chan = mother)
I'm not sure how common it is for older family members to be addressed by their title + chan, although it is probably more prevelant in rural areas (where even other families may be called "mama" or "okaachan" in some places)....the most common reference as a whole being simply "okaasan."
 
but how many is it!?!?!?
I mean i know: san kun chan sama duno...
But no more.
I bet u know where u can use all of em. ;)
 
Originally posted by AnimeLuver
but how many is it!?!?!?
I mean i know: san kun chan sama duno...
But no more.
I bet u know where u can use all of em. ;)
There are actually any number of rankings such as sensei or senpai that are used in place of an honorific and can get very specific for different professions and categories of people. But until you get the social structure down as to not risk offending anyone, it's probably best just to stick to the standards (minus dono, milady animeluver).
 
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