Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.

I have already received a flu vaccine this year.

Breakdown of Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.

• saya: I
• sudah: already
• mendapat: to receive
• vaksin flu: the flu vaccine
• tahun ini: this year

Questions & Answers about Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.

Why do we use sudah here, and what changes if we leave it out?

Sudah marks that the action is already completed.

• Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
  → “I have already received the flu vaccine this year.”
  This often answers an implicit question like “Have you got your flu shot yet?” and slightly emphasizes “already / done”.

• Saya mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
  → “I got the flu vaccine this year.”
  Still grammatical. It just sounds more neutral, like you’re stating a fact about this year, without emphasizing the “already” / “it’s done now” feeling.

So:

• With sudah: focus on completion / “already”.
• Without sudah: simple past fact, with less emphasis on completion relative to now.

What’s the difference between sudah, telah, and pernah?

All three relate to time/aspect, but they’re used differently:

1. sudah

   • Very common, neutral spoken Indonesian.
   • Means “already / (has) done”.
   • Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
     = I have already received it (this year).

2. telah

   • Similar meaning to sudah, but more formal / written.
   • Often seen in news, official announcements, documents.
   • Saya telah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
     Sounds like written or official style.

3. pernah

   • Means “ever / have (ever) experienced at least once”.
   • Saya pernah mendapat vaksin flu.
     = I have (at some time in my life) gotten a flu shot.
   • It usually does not go well with a very specific time like tahun ini.
     
     • ✗ Saya pernah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini. sounds odd.
     • More natural: Saya sudah pernah mendapat vaksin flu.
       = I’ve already had a flu shot at least once (before now).

So:

• Use sudah/telah for “already (this period)” / completed.
• Use pernah for “have ever (at least once)”.

Why is it mendapat and not mendapatkan, menerima, or something else?

Several verbs are possible here, with slightly different flavors:

1. mendapat = “to get / to obtain / to receive”

   • From root dapat
     • meN- prefix.
   • Very common and natural here.
   • Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
     → I have already gotten/received the flu vaccine this year.

2. mendapatkan

   • Also means “to obtain / to get”.
   • Often interchangeable with mendapat in everyday speech.
   • Can sound a bit longer / slightly more formal or emphasize the process of obtaining.
   • Saya sudah mendapatkan vaksin flu tahun ini. is also fine.

3. menerima = “to receive (something that is given)”

   • Emphasizes the act of receiving what someone gives you.
   • Saya sudah menerima vaksin flu tahun ini.
     → Also correct, but sounds a little more like “I have received the flu vaccine” as something delivered/ administered to you.

4. Using a passive form, e.g. divaksin

   • Saya sudah divaksin flu tahun ini.
     → “I have already been vaccinated for flu this year.”
   • Very natural in medical contexts; focuses on what was done to you.

So mendapat is just one common, neutral choice. Others (especially mendapatkan, menerima, divaksin) are also possible, with small differences in nuance and style.

Why is it vaksin flu, not flu vaksin or something like that?

In Indonesian, noun + noun combinations usually follow this pattern:

HEAD + MODIFIER

• vaksin flu
  
  • vaksin = vaccine (head noun)
  • flu = flu (modifying noun)
    → literally “vaccine [for] flu” = “flu vaccine”.

You cannot say ✗ flu vaksin. That would be ungrammatical.

Other options:

• vaksin untuk flu = vaccine for flu
  
  • More explicit, but also correct and natural.
• vaksin influenza
  
  • More formal/medical; influenza is the more technical word, but flu is common in everyday Indonesian too.

So vaksin flu follows normal Indonesian noun phrase order: main noun first, modifier after.

Can we move tahun ini somewhere else in the sentence? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can move tahun ini (this year) around; the core meaning stays the same, but emphasis changes slightly.

Common options:

1. At the end (very natural):

   • Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
     Neutral statement; “this year” simply adds when it happened.

2. At the beginning (emphasis on the time frame):

   • Tahun ini, saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu.
     Feels like: “As for this year, I’ve already gotten the flu vaccine.”

3. In the middle (possible, but more marked):

   • Saya tahun ini sudah mendapat vaksin flu.
     Used in speech for emphasis on “this year”, but can sound slightly less smooth to learners.

About prepositions:

• Tahun ini by itself is most common.
• Pada tahun ini is more formal/written.
• Di tahun ini is common in everyday speech but is often considered less standard; for learners, it’s safer to use tahun ini or pada tahun ini.

Is Saya necessary? Can we drop it, or use aku or gue instead?

You can change or even drop the subject, depending on context and formality:

1. Saya

   • Neutral / polite / standard “I”.
   • Good default in most situations.
   • Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini. (original sentence)

2. Aku

   • More informal / intimate, used with friends, family, or people your age.
   • Aku sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.

3. Gue (or gua, gw)

   • Very informal, Jakarta slang.
   • Gue udah dapet vaksin flu tahun ini. (note other casual changes too)

4. Dropping the pronoun:

   • Sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
     In isolation, this is ambiguous; it could sound like:
   • a statement where the subject is understood from context, or
   • part of a question / instruction (“Have you already got…?” / “(You should) already get…”), depending on tone.

For clear, standalone statements in learner Indonesian, it’s better to keep the pronoun, especially saya.

Why doesn’t the verb change form for the past tense, like in English?

Indonesian verbs don’t mark tense (past/present/future) by changing form the way English does. Instead, Indonesian uses:

1. Time expressions

   • tahun ini (this year)
   • kemarin (yesterday)
   • tadi pagi (this morning)
   • etc.

2. Aspect markers – small words that show whether an action is completed, ongoing, etc.:

   • sudah / telah = already / completed
   • sedang = in the middle of, currently doing
   • akan = will / going to

So:

• Saya mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
  → “I got the flu vaccine this year.”
• Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
  → “I have already received the flu vaccine this year.”

The verb mendapat stays the same; the information about time/completion comes from tahun ini and sudah.

Can I say dapat instead of mendapat, as in Saya sudah dapat vaksin flu tahun ini?

Yes, that is very natural in everyday Indonesian:

• Saya sudah dapat vaksin flu tahun ini.
  → “I’ve already got the flu vaccine this year.”

Notes:

• dapat can mean both “can/be able to” and “get/obtain”.
• When used with sudah and a concrete object like vaksin flu, it’s normally understood as “get/obtain”, not “can”.
• mendapat is slightly more formal/standard; dapat sounds a bit more casual, but both are correct.

So you can use either:

• Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini. (slightly more formal)
• Saya sudah dapat vaksin flu tahun ini. (very common in speech)

Could I say vaksin in another way, like using suntik?

Yes, there are a few common ways people talk about this in everyday Indonesian:

1. vaksin flu

   • Focuses on the vaccine itself, but often also implies the act of vaccination.
   • Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini.

2. suntik flu (literally “flu injection / flu shot”)

   • Very common, informal, focuses on the injection.
   • Saya sudah suntik flu tahun ini.
     → Common speech; fully understood as “I’ve had my flu shot this year.”

3. suntikan vaksin flu / disuntik vaksin flu

   • More explicit:
   • Saya sudah disuntik vaksin flu tahun ini.
     → I’ve already been injected with the flu vaccine this year.

So:

• vaksin = the vaccine.
• suntik (verb) / suntikan (noun) = injection / to inject.

In casual talk, vaksin flu and suntik flu are both very natural.

Is it better to say Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini or Saya sudah divaksin flu tahun ini?

Both are correct; they just frame the action differently:

1. Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini. (active)

   • Literally: “I have already got/received the flu vaccine this year.”
   • Focus is a bit more on you obtaining/receiving it.

2. Saya sudah divaksin flu tahun ini. (passive)

   • di-
     • vaksin → divaksin = “to be vaccinated”.
   • Literally: “I have already been vaccinated for flu this year.”
   • Focus is on what was done to you (you were vaccinated).

In practice:

• Both are used in everyday speech.
• In a medical/health context, you will very often hear forms like:
  
  • Saya sudah divaksin flu.
  • Sudah divaksin flu belum? (“Have you been vaccinated for flu yet?”)

So neither is “better” overall; choose based on which style you want:

• mendapat vaksin flu: “get/receive the vaccine”.
• divaksin flu: “be vaccinated for flu” (very common).

Is flu here an English word? Can I (or should I) say influenza instead?

flu is indeed borrowed from English, but it’s well-established and very common in Indonesian:

• vaksin flu = flu vaccine (everyday, natural).
• You may also see vaksin influenza, especially in medical or more formal contexts.

Nuance:

• flu → everyday, casual, but completely acceptable even in many semi-formal contexts.
• influenza → more technical/formal.

So your sentence Saya sudah mendapat vaksin flu tahun ini. sounds completely normal in modern Indonesian. You could make it more formal as:

• Saya telah mendapat vaksin influenza tahun ini.
  (more formal/polished style, e.g., in writing or official speech).