Hey everybody, as usual I’m Ken Cannon, and today I’m gonna be teaching you guys the most common Japanese anime suffixes.
This is of course to offset a little bit of what I taught you guys last week. The Top Ten Anime Cuss words! Aka. How to be a dick head in Japanese!
Hopefully this video will add some politeness to your Japanese vocabulary, so you can thoroughly de- dickhead yourself.
Now most of you, if you’ve been watching anime for 5 minutes, are familiar with what these are. In technical jargon, there called honorifics.
And for you guys I’m gonna to try to include a bit more of detail on how the word is actually used, and hopefully some stuff you didn’t know.
But for the rest of you anime noobs, Japanese suffixes or honorifics are little titles stuck to the back of a name. In other words, I would be known as Ken Cannon Sensei. Although that makes me sound old and gross, so please don’t call me that. J
Alright! Getting started!
With the most common Japanese suffix
-San
"San" is often equated to the English Mr. or Mrs. But here no one really uses those terms unless you’re old and balding so I find that translation rather inaccurate. However the meaning is correct, in that it’s mainly used for adults, and as a sign of respect for people you don’t know very well.
(Pronunciation guide)
In Japanese "san" is the defacto, so if you don’t know what to call someone, "san" is usually the way to go.
(man dressed in womens clothing)
Konichiwa desu! Sakura to moshimasu!
Konichiwa… sakura…san
With "san," make sure you never refer to yourself with it, because it’s a symbol of respect. It would kinda sound like you're worshiping yourself.
(Naruto clips)
Now the rule of thumb on when you become a "–san" (i.e. graduate from some of the other suffixs I’m going to teach you). For girls it happens when you graduate middles school or junior high, and boys, after graduating high school.
And yes the implication here is maturity.
Okay! Moving on to the next commonly used honorific
-chan!
This suffix is actually more common than "-san" in anime, and is used as an expression of endearment, so as you might guess, it’s the default for young children and girls.
(Pronunciation guide)
You can also use this term if you a sexist old bastard and want to pick up on younger women.
Ne, ne ojou-chan, ima kara doko ka, ikanai?
(man dressed in women’s clothing)
This phrase is also commonly used when referring to pets or animals..
Gomen ne neko-chan… oven wa atsukatta?
So if you’re a guy older than 12 and someone calls you this, it might be a good time to use your newly learned “Temee.”
(Naruto clips)
Ok, the next commonly used suffix is,
-Sensei!
This suffix in it’s root, means teacher.
(pronunciation guide)
However something that sets this suffix apart, is that while "–san" and "–chan" must be attached to the back of a name, you can use "sensei" by itself.
As a pronoun of sorts
Now "sensei" doesn’t mean just “teacher” , it can also used when referring to doctors, poets and evem manga artists or manga- ka. Basically you can use "sensei" to pretty much refer to anybody with a certain level of mastery in a subject.
Sensei! Anata no toenail clipping skills wa saiko desu!
And here’s some examples from Naruto.
(naruto clips)
Okay on to suffix number 4
-sama
This honrific is used a lot more in anime than in actual real life. And it’s used to show extreme respect for someone.
(Pronunciation guide)
Now as I said this phrase is a lot more popular in anime than in real life, most likely because you can sometimes equate this suffix to (king). And in Anime there are a lot more kings and queens than in real life… besides me of course.
“temeera ore nit suite koi”
(man in womens clothing)
“hai! Ken Cannon sama!”
Now in Real life this phrase is most often heard when referring to customers of a business, as in okyaku-sama.
Other uses like I mentioned above would be when referring to actual kings or presidents, Obama-sama?
(Naruto clips)
Alright and the last honorific for today’s lesson is!
-Kun!
This is used mainly for younger males
(pronunciation guide)
Now like I said boys generally graduate this term until college, but it’s also pretty common for a boss to call an employee "-kun" no matter his age. Basically you use it for male younger or lower than you in status.
George Bush – kun?
"-Kun" can also be used by girls on a guy they’ve known for a while or are particularly fond of.
“Ken Cannon kun ttara!”
And here’s some examples from naruto.
(Naruto clips)
Now to do a little recap…
San, the defacto
Chan, for little ones
Sensei, for teachers
Sama, for kings
And Kun, for boys
Alright! As a side note really just want to thank everybody for all your comments, subscriptions and wonderful encouragement you guys have given me this past month. And I know I went on a bit of a hiatus for about 3 weeks.
My brother actually came to visit me from out of state so I really wanted to maximize the amount of time I had with him. So sorry. But I’m back in my groove again so please subscribe if you liked the honorifics video and I’ll see you guys next week!

Ken Cannon