Hello lizzy_x3, What you are referring to is called Japanese Honorifics. (Try to google that for more information) Most common honorifics are: - chan: chan is used for babies, young children, and teenage girls - kun: addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers - sama: more respectful version of san, mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself - san: a title of respect similar to "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs.", or "Ms." - senpai: to address or refer to one's senior colleagues in a school, company, sports club, or other group - sensei: refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, and other authority figures I have provide a brief explaination of the most common ones. For more information here is the link to Japanese Honorifics on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics

Among all suffixes, -san is the most neutral; adults, male or female, use -san for each other. -chan and -kun indicates more intimate and casual relationships if used by adults addressing adults. Kids and teenagers use -chan and -kun for each other, and adults also use -chan and -kun to them. -sama is a bit different. The situation is limited, but in those situations, -sama is necessary. We don't use -sama just because someone is in higher status. For example, President Obama is Obama-san or Obama-daitouryou(means president), not Obama-sama unless the speaker wants to express personal worship to him. So these are the situations we typically use -sama. -from sellers to customers -in formal business letters -to the emperor(tennou) and his family