You ordered Didi, the car arrives, and the driver asks a short question in Chinese. You point at your phone. The driver repeats it. Nobody is angry yet, but the pickup suddenly feels stressful.
Most of the time, the driver is asking for your phone number ending — the last four digits of the phone number attached to the Didi booking. It is a quick passenger check, like confirming you are the right person before the ride starts.
The driver may say the full question, or just one word: 尾号? If you know this in advance, the whole moment becomes simple.
If you do not speak Chinese, do not try to explain. Before the ride, open your notes app and prepare this card with your own four digits:
You can also say the full sentence:
Use the phone number connected to your Didi booking or account. That may be your home number, especially if you book Didi through Alipay with a foreign number. It is not necessarily your eSIM data line.
So the rule is simple: whatever number you used to register or book the ride, prepare the last four digits of that number.
You do not need perfect listening. Just recognize the shape of the question.
Answer by showing the card, or say the digits one by one: líng 0, yāo 1, èr 2, sān 3, sì 4, wǔ 5, liù 6, qī 7, bā 8, jiǔ 9.
Didi drivers may call when they cannot find you, especially at airports, train stations, hotel gates, or large malls. If you cannot speak Chinese, messaging is safer than answering the phone.
Send one of these:
At airports and train stations, follow signs for 网约车 (online-booked cars / ride-hailing). Didi cars usually cannot stop at any random door.
If you want the smallest possible version, save this before you land:
This is more useful than a long translated paragraph because it answers the exact three things the driver cares about: who you are, where you are, and how to communicate.
If the car is there but the driver still looks uncertain, this line explains the situation politely:
For the full setup — cards, payment, airport pickup, and street taxi backup — read the complete Didi guide for China. For regular taxi lines like "please use the meter," use the taxi Chinese phrase guide.
Didi drivers often confirm the passenger by asking for the last four digits of the phone number connected to the booking. In Chinese this is 手机尾号, usually shortened to 尾号.
手机 means mobile phone and 尾号 means ending number or tail number. 手机尾号 means the final digits of your phone number, usually the last four digits.
Use the phone number connected to your Didi booking or Alipay Didi account, not the eSIM data line itself. If you registered Didi with your home number, prepare the last four digits of that number.
In phone numbers, Chinese speakers usually say 1 as yāo, written 幺, rather than yī. This makes it easier to hear over noise and avoids confusion with 7.
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