newbie question: penalties, warnings, cards

[scvaughan]

can anyone explain the following: 1. what leads up to a ref's warning? 2. what is needed to get a yellow card and what does a yellow card mean? 3. what is a red card (getting kicked out of game?) 4. if a player is kicked out does his side play short-handed for rest of game? 5. finally, what levels of league game suspension are there, and what does it take to get suspended.
thanks.

[Laggard]

Cautionable Offences

A player is cautioned and shown the yellow
card if he commits any of the following
seven offences:

1. is guilty of unsporting behaviour
2. shows dissent by word or action
3. persistently infringes the Laws of the
Game
4. delays the restart of play
5. fails to respect the required distance
when play is restarted with a corner kick
or free kick
6. enters or re-enters the field of play
without the referee’s permission
7. deliberately leaves the field of play
without the referee’s permission

[Laggard]

A player is sent off and shown the red card
if he commits any of the following seven
offences:

1. is guilty of serious foul play
2. is guilty of violent conduct
3. spits at an opponent or any other person
4. denies the opposing team a goal or an
obvious goal-scoring opportunity by
deliberately handling the ball (this does
not apply to a goalkeeper within his own
penalty area)
5. denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
to an opponent moving towards the
player’s goal by an offence punishable by
a free kick or a penalty kick
6. uses offensive or insulting or abusive
language and/or gestures
7. receives a second caution in the same
match

[Gary V]

Laggard answered 2 and 3. I'll take a crack at the remainder.

can anyone explain the following: 1. what leads up to a ref's warning?Whenever a player is getting too close to the border of fair and foul. This is very subjective at any given time. The ref takes into account the tenor of the game, the age and skill of the players, what is needed to maintain control, etc.

4. if a player is kicked out does his side play short-handed for rest of game?Yes, except for some send-offs in US High School games.

5. finally, what levels of league game suspension are there, and what does it take to get suspended. Per directive of FIFA, a red card (send-off) results in a minimum one-game suspension. Additional lengths of suspension, up to a total life-time ban from all soccer, can be imposed by disciplinary committees at various levels (league, state, nation, FIFA).

Many leagues and competitions have a yellow card count which will result in sitting a game. Common numbers are 2, 3 and 5.

[IASocFan]

Cautionable Offences

A player is cautioned and shown the yellow
card if he commits any of the following
seven offences:

1. is guilty of unsporting behaviour
...

Unsporting Behaviour includes, but is not limited to, reckless fouls, tactical fouls (like shirt pulling a player that has just beaten you or fouls just before the penalty area), and verbal or physical actions which, in the opinion of the referee (ITOOTR), are unsporting.

[scvaughan]

Many thanks to Laggard, Gary V, and IASocFan! :)