Whether you’re on holiday or staying for a slightly longer period of time, your Collins Visual Dictionary is designed to help you find exactly what you need, when you need it. With over a thousand clear and helpful images, you can quickly locate the vocabulary you are looking for.
The Visual Dictionary includes:
USING YOUR COLLINS VISUAL DICTIONARY
The points set out below will help to make sure that your Collins Visual Dictionary gives you as much help as possible when using Korean:
1)Word order
Korean word order is subject – object – verb. However, when the topic or subject can be understood among the speakers or from the context, it is often omitted. Personal pronouns are avoided; instead, the person’s name or the appropriate way of addressing the person is used.
2)How to address people politely
You should not call family members by name unless they are from a younger generation. More information about terms of address for relatives can be found on here and here.
The gender-neutral suffix, 씨 (ssi), is similar to Mr/Miss/Ms in English and can be used as a polite way to address someone who is of a similar age or social position. With junior or younger colleagues at work, you use their name followed by the gender-neutral suffix, for example, 김소영 (Kim Soyeong) would be called 김소영 씨 (Kim Soyeong ssi) or 소영 씨 (Soyeong ssi). With senior or older colleagues, the name and the position of the person would be used followed by the gender-neutral honorific suffix 님 (nim). For example, a manager called 김소영 (Kim Soyeong) would be known as 김소영 부장님 (Kim Soyeong bujangnim) or, giving only the surname, 김 부장님 (Kim bujangnim).
3)Verb forms
There are different levels of politeness in Korean, and polite forms suitable for use among family, friends, and colleagues have been used in the phrases in this book. When the verb ends in a consonant, 이에요 (ieyo) follows; when the verb ends in a vowel, 예요 (yeyo) follows. Adding the honorific form, (으)시 ((eu)si), makes the form more polite.
4)Particles
Korean uses words called particles to show how different parts of the sentence relate to each other. Some work in a similar way to English prepositions, but in Korean they are typically attached to nouns. For example, in the sentence 저는 점심을 먹었어요 (jeoneun jeomsimeul meogeosseoyo) meaning “I had lunch”, 저 (jeo) meaning “I” is a topic in this sentence, followed by 는 (neun) as the topic particle, and 점심 (jeomsim) meaning “lunch” is an object, followed by 을 (eul) as the object particle. Note that the topic and object particles are often omitted, so 저 점심 먹었어요 (jeo jeomsim meogeosseoyo) is also correct.
5)Number systems
There are two number systems in Korean, sino Korean and native Korean. Sino Korean numbers (shown on the inside cover of the book) are used to count seconds and minutes, to talk about the date and money, and to give phone numbers. The native Korean number system shown below is used to count hours, and to talk about age and numbers of people or things.
Number |
Native Korean |
1 |
하나/한 (hana/han) |
2 |
둘/두 (dul/du) |
3 |
셋/세 (set/se) |
4 |
넷/네 (net/ne) |
5 |
다섯 (daseot) |
6 |
여섯 (yeoseot) |
7 |
일곱 (ilgop) |
8 |
여덟 (yeodeol) |
9 |
아홉 (ahop) |
10 |
열 (yeol) |
11 |
열하나 (yeolhana) |
12 |
열둘 (yeoldul) |
13 |
열셋 (yeolset) |
14 |
열넷 (yeollet) |
15 |
열다섯 (yeoldaseot) |
16 |
열여섯 (yeoryeoseot) |
17 |
열일곱 (yeorilgop) |
18 |
열여덟 (yeoryeodeol) |
19 |
열아홉 (yeorahop) |
20 |
스물 (seumul) |
30 |
서른 (seoreun) |
40 |
마흔 (maheun) |
50 |
쉰 (swin) |
60 |
예순 (yesun) |
70 |
일흔 (ilheun) |
80 |
여든 (yeodeun) |
90 |
아흔 (aheun) |
100 |
No native Korean after 99 |
FREE AUDIO
We have created a free audio resource to help you learn and practise the Korean words for all of the images shown in this dictionary. The Korean words in each chapter are spoken by native speakers, giving you the opportunity to listen to each word twice and repeat it yourself. Download the audio from the website below to learn all of the vocabulary you need for communicating in Korean.