taxi
HSK level
出租车 (chūzūchē) is the standard Mandarin word for a taxi — literally 'rent-out vehicle.'
It's the term you'll see on signs, in textbooks, and in Mainland news. In daily Beijing speech, locals more often say 打车 (dǎ chē, 'grab a cab') for the action and 的士 (dīshì, from Cantonese/English) for the vehicle.
In Taiwan, the same thing is usually called 計程車 (jìchéngchē, 'metered car'). Two things to know: first, since Didi (滴滴) took over in the mid-2010s, most people in China hail rides through an app and may say 网约车 (wǎngyuēchē, 'online-booked car') for ride-share, reserving 出租车 for traditional metered cabs; second, 出租车 is three syllables — learners often shorten it to 出租 in casual speech, but the full word is standard in writing.
Character by character
Memory hook: 出 + 租 + 车 = 'out-rent-car,' a car you rent and ride out in — a taxi.
我们坐出租车去机场。
Wǒmen zuò chūzūchē qù jīchǎng.
We're taking a taxi to the airport.
neutral
请帮我叫一辆出租车。
Qǐng bāng wǒ jiào yī liàng chūzūchē.
Please help me call a taxi.
polite
出租车在哪儿?
Chūzūchē zài nǎr?
Where's the taxi?
spoken
出租车司机很好。
Chūzūchē sījī hěn hǎo.
The taxi driver is very nice.
neutral
出租车 is written with 19 strokes (出: 5, 租: 10, 车: 4). Tap replay to watch each character drawn again.
Borrowed from the English 'taxi' through Cantonese. Common in Hong Kong, Guangdong, and increasingly in casual Mainland speech. 出租车 is more standard/written; 的士 is colloquial.
打车 is the VERB 'to catch a cab,' not the vehicle. 'I'm catching a taxi' = 我打车; 'a taxi is over there' = 出租车在那儿.
Acquire it by listening
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