# I finally got my first shot of the COVID vaccine!



## yuechu

大家好！

I finally got my first shot of the COVID vaccine, and I was wondering how to say this in Chinese. Would you say "我终于得到了第一个新冠病毒疫苗"?
Thanks!


----------



## SimonTsai

我去打疫苗了！終於！新冠的。這是我第一次打新冠疫苗。


yuechu said:


> Would you say "我终于得到了第一个新冠病毒疫苗"?


That doesn't work. It sounds as if you got your first bottle or pack of the vaccine.

(By the way, I haven't. God bless me.)


----------



## yuechu

Thanks for the translation, Simon!  
(I hope you get yours soon, if you are planning on getting it!)


----------



## desperatezzz

“我终于打了我的第一针新冠疫苗。”


----------



## yuechu

Thanks, Desperatezzz!


----------



## ovaltine888

我终于打完了第一针新冠疫苗

You can use "打完了" which implies a sense of perfect tense.


----------



## yuechu

ovaltine888 said:


> 我终于打完了第一针新冠疫苗


Oh, that's great. Thanks, Ovaline888!


----------



## wuchuzun

I finally got my first shot of the COVID vaccine.
As a native Chinese speaker, I think ‘我终于注射完了我的第一针新冠疫苗。‘ would be fine.


----------



## yuechu

Thanks, Wuchuzun!


----------



## SuperXW

wuchuzun said:


> ‘我终于注射完了我的第一针新冠疫苗。‘


Note that 注射 is mostly written.


----------



## nightowl666

yuechu said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I finally got my first shot of the COVID vaccine, and I was wondering how to say this in Chinese. Would you say "我终于得到了第一个新冠病毒疫苗"?
> Thanks!


我终于打了第一针新冠疫苗。 " got " means  "was injected".  In a more formal way, you should say 注射了 rather than 打了。


----------



## nightowl666

SuperXW said:


> Note that 注射 is mostly written.


注射 is also used in spoken Chinese mostly by educated speakers.


----------



## SuperXW

nightowl666 said:


> 注射 is also used in spoken Chinese mostly by educated speakers.


It is less about educated/uneducated, more about occasion and context.


----------



## nightowl666

SuperXW said:


> It is less about educated/uneducated, more about occasion and context.



No, I don't think so. some illiterate speakers don't even know the word 注射。


----------



## SuperXW

nightowl666 said:


> No, I don't think so. some illiterate speakers don't even know the word 注射。


注射 is not a deep word but a formal word.
注射 is taught in primary school as I can find a 小学生字表 teaching it: 注 (注意、关注、注目、注入、注射). There aren't too many people who don't really know it.
Most of the native speakers here have chosen 打 in their answers, we can't say they were not educated.
It's a choice whether or not using it in spoken language.
Overusing formal words in informal conversations may make people feel pretentious.


----------



## nightowl666

SuperXW said:


> 注射 is not a deep word but a formal word.
> 注射 is taught in primary school as I can find a 小学生字表 teaching it: 注 (注意、关注、注目、注入、注射). There aren't too many people who don't really know it.
> Most of the native speakers here have chosen 打 in their answers, we can't say they were not educated.
> It's a choice whether or not using it in spoken language.
> Overusing formal words in informal conversations may make people feel pretentious.


Thank you for your reply. I've never said that 打 is used by uneducated speakers. I would use 打 on most occasions. 打 is informal compared with 注射。 Please notice in my last thread that I refer to "illiterate people" (though rare now) who may not be able to use the word 注射. If you go to remote mountainous areas in China, you will see some old peasants generally do not use the word 注射。 However, 打 is more frequently used in spoken Chinese. Sometimes the option for a word is also a matter of personal preference.


----------



## leo5685

yuechu said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I finally got my first shot of the COVID vaccine, and I was wondering how to say this in Chinese. Would you say "我终于得到了第一个新冠病毒疫苗"?
> Thanks!



Actually, I do think the word "got" here is a "light verb". For a light verb, its semantic emphasis is on its object. e.g. "They did the cleaning yesterday" means they cleaned sth...; I am going to have a nice nap. the semantic focus is on the word nap, not "have'. So for your sentence, "got" here doesn't mean anything, only combined with its object shot, then it can have a complete meaning. Shot in Chinese means "注射(肌肉)”， or “打针”, not an injection(血管注射).so the interpretation for this sentence is "我最终注射了第一针新冠疫苗或者我最终打了第一针新冠疫苗”。Maybe this guy was worried about the side-effect of the COVID vaccine in the first place, or maybe he didn't have the resources to get vaccinated, but anyway, finally he got vaccinated.


----------

