Questions & Answers about Tomei a vacina ontem, e a injeção doeu um pouco.
Why is it tomei a vacina and not peguei / recebi / fiz?
In Brazilian Portuguese, tomar vacina is the most common everyday collocation meaning “to get a vaccine / get vaccinated.”
Other options exist, but they sound different:
- receber a vacina = more formal/clinical (“to receive the vaccine”)
- pegar a vacina = can sound odd/ambiguous (often pegar = “catch” something)
- fazer a vacina = usually not used (though fazer a vacinação = “carry out vaccination” in an official sense)
Why is it tomei? What tense is that?
Tomei is the pretérito perfeito do indicativo (simple past) of tomar for eu. It’s used for a completed action in the past, similar to English “I took / I got.”
Conjugation: tomar → eu tomei, você tomou, ele/ela tomou, nós tomamos, vocês tomaram, eles/elas tomaram.
Is tomei related to the English word “tome” (a big book)?
No. English tome (book) is unrelated. Portuguese tomar means “to take” in many senses (take medicine, take a shower in some contexts, take action, etc.). Here it’s the idiomatic “get (a shot/vaccine).”
Why is it a vacina (with a)? Do you always need the article?