Absolute Anime

So here we go with the name game. As many of you all ready know, there are many different name endings, or honorifics, in Japanese.

Here are the most common ones:

~San さん This is your everday name ending, it can be used with just about any name.

~sama さま More polite than san, by quite a bit actually. Used as a mark of great respect.

~dono どの　Even higher than sama, it is so polite I can't really think of any situation where you would need to use this in everyday life. Has the equivelent of "Lord".

~kun くん、君 This is a little more complicated than it seems. It is basically a friendly name ending used by boys to boys and girls to boys. But in some situations, you can call a girl buy ~kun, normally in an office situation or workplace.

~Chan ちゃん　I think just about everyone here knows what this one means. I shows a affection more so than ~kun. It is used by boys to girls, girls to girls, mothers to children, people to their pets. If ~chan is used boy to boy, you can safely assume that those two guys have known each other since they were young and have a strong connection.

Name replacements/endings:

These can be used as a name ending of used on their own.

Sensei せんせい、先生 most text books refer to this as "Teacher" but it is used also for doctors, lawyers, manga artists and any professional person.

Senpai せんぱい、先輩　You may have heard this one before. It is used to show a kind of repect for someone senior to you without being so polite as to sound cold.

Kohai こはい This is the exact opposite of senpai, refering to someone lower than you without being so rude as to sound cold.

Bozu ぼず Used to adress young boys to the effect of "Kid" or something like that, I'm not to sure about this one, I have not heard is that much

On from that, here are some personal por nouns.

Kanojo 彼女 She
Kare 彼　He

Atashi あたし Me, I (For girls only)
Watashi　私 Me, I
Watakushi　わたくし Me, I (Polite)
Boku　ぼく Me, I (For boys normally)
Ore　俺 Me, I (Boys only, sounds rude around people you dont know)

Anata あなた You (Polite)
Anta　あんた You (Slightly less polite)
Kimi　キミ You (Kinda rude if used with people you dont know)
Omae　お前 You (Really rude with people you dont know)
Kisama　きさま You (Really rude, it's almost like a swear word)

~Tachi たち this is used on the end of a word to indicate more that one watashi tachi　私たち means, "we" or "us"　wear as Anata tachi あなたたち means "You guys" You two" or "Them". You can slap ~tachi on the end of any of those words to indicate more than one. But ~Tachi is polite, so you should normally use it with polite-ish words.

~ra ら has the same function as ~tachi but is, well not rude as such, in the plain form. This is not overly polite so using it with really polite words might sound a bit strange.

So what's ano hito? Isn't it like those persons or that person?
And then, for the honorifics, doesn't everyone at least you use ~san after the name e.g.: Sumisu san...? and that would be the equivalent to our english Mr. Smith, right?
And why are some of the words more rude then others?
Oh and thanks ^^

"Are "　あれ means "Over there" ot "That over there" when you put a noun after it it becomes "Ano" あの. "hito" means person or people.

So, "Ano hito"　あの人 basically means "That person over there".

There is a very set-in-stone politeness system in Japanese. ~san does mean "mr,mrs", or at least thats what most textbooks will tell you. Really it's just an all purpose name ending.

Say, a manager using an overy polite name ending to a lower employee would sound like he is making fun of him. And a lower position employee using plain name endings to a manager would sound rude. This basic rule applies to just about everything.

But in the Japan of today, amoung young people in particular, these rules are becoming more laid back but the basic mechanics of it are staying the same.

Ok, that makes more sense ^^. Thanks

lol i dont get it??

i understand it...but it might take me a little while to get it memorized and use it correctly

I am writing all of this down

Can you tell me how can you write in japanese on this forum (with kanji too )? Do you use a special keyboard?

Deacon wrote:Can you tell me how can you write in japanese on this forum (with kanji too )? Do you use a special keyboard?

Click here!

芸者男の子 wrote:

Deacon wrote:Can you tell me how can you write in japanese on this forum (with kanji too )? Do you use a special keyboard?

Click here!

Alright. I know more Japanese than the average anime watcher, but I have a very critical weak spot : Sentence structure.

I know the verb always comes after the noun. When using adjectives you use an i at the end (ex. akai inu = red dog)

I know most of the ending... things... (nai, imasen, etc etc.)

I also understand most Godan and Ichidan verb structures, they're tenses, and how they are used. But... I just can't put them into a sentence O.O Help....

Darkbear wrote:

芸者男の子 wrote:

Deacon wrote:Can you tell me how can you write in japanese on this forum (with kanji too )? Do you use a special keyboard?

Click here!

Alright. I know more Japanese than the average anime watcher, but I have a very critical weak spot : Sentence structure.

I know the verb always comes after the noun. When using adjectives you use an i at the end (ex. akai inu = red dog)

I know most of the ending... things... (nai, imasen, etc etc.)

I also understand most Godan and Ichidan verb structures, they're tenses, and how they are used. But... I just can't put them into a sentence O.O Help....

Click here!

That *should* answer youre questions