How to Say “Call a taxi” in Chinese
Getting around · HSK 2
"Call a taxi" in Chinese is 叫出租车 (jiào chū zū chē). 叫出租车 is the standard Mainland phrase, but in real life almost nobody calls a cab from the street anymore; everyone uses 滴滴 (Dīdī), China's Uber equivalent, so you'll often hear 打滴滴 or the catch-all 打车 (dǎchē, "hail a ride"). Taiwan uses 計程車 (jìchéngchē) instead of 出租车, and 小黄 (xiǎohuáng, "little yellow") as slang since their cabs are yellow.
Primary translation
叫出租车
jiào chū zū chē
Traditional: 叫計程車
Variants by register
Formal
请帮我叫一辆出租车
qǐng bāng wǒ jiào yí liàng chū zū chē
Casual
打车
dǎ chē
When to use it
叫出租车 is the standard Mainland phrase, but in real life almost nobody calls a cab from the street anymore; everyone uses 滴滴 (Dīdī), China's Uber equivalent, so you'll often hear 打滴滴 or the catch-all 打车 (dǎchē, "hail a ride"). Taiwan uses 計程車 (jìchéngchē) instead of 出租车, and 小黄 (xiǎohuáng, "little yellow") as slang since their cabs are yellow. The measure word for cars is 辆 (liàng). At a hotel front desk, 请帮我叫一辆出租车 is the polite way to ask them to call one for you.
Example sentences
我帮你打个车吧。
Wǒ bāng nǐ dǎ ge chē ba.
Let me hail a cab for you.
请帮我叫一辆出租车去机场。
Qǐng bāng wǒ jiào yí liàng chūzūchē qù jīchǎng.
Please call me a taxi to the airport.
打车比地铁快。
Dǎchē bǐ dìtiě kuài.
A taxi is faster than the subway.