Portuguese Phrase
Me arruma um táxi?
Meaning
A casual way to ask someone to get you a taxi. It’s informal and usually used with friends, colleagues, or service staff you’re comfortable with.
When to use
Use this phrase when you need a taxi and you’re speaking to someone who can arrange one for you – a hotel receptionist, a coworker, or a friend. It’s not appropriate in very formal settings; there you’d use a more polite construction.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Mearrumaumtáxi?
Clitic pronoun placement
In informal requests, the object pronoun (me) is placed before the verb, forming a proclitic construction: Me arruma.
Present indicative as a polite request
The verb arruma is in the third‑person singular present indicative, which in Brazilian Portuguese often functions like a polite request (equivalent to ‘could you…’).
Indefinite article ‘um’
Use um before masculine nouns like táxi to indicate ‘a’ (one).
🗨In Conversation
Me arruma um táxi?
Can you get me a taxi?
Claro! Vou chamar um agora.
Sure! I’ll call one right now.
✕Common Mistakes
Me arrume um táxi?
‘Arrume’ is the subjunctive/imperative form; the correct polite request uses the indicative ‘arruma’.
Arruma me um táxi?
Pronoun should precede the verb in this informal request, not follow it.
Me arruma táxi?
Do not omit the article; Portuguese requires the indefinite article before singular countable nouns.
↔Alternatives
Você pode me chamar um táxi?
Can you call me a taxi?
Consegue me arrumar um táxi?
Can you manage to get me a taxi?
Pode me pegar um táxi, por favor?
Could you get me a taxi, please?
Preciso de um táxi, pode me ajudar?
I need a taxi, can you help me?
Cultural Tip
In Brazil, most people now use ride‑hailing apps (Uber, 99) rather than calling a traditional taxi, so you’ll often hear “pode me chamar um carro?” instead. The verb arrumar is informal; in a hotel or formal setting you’d say “Poderia chamar um táxi, por favor?”. In Portugal the construction changes to “Arranja‑me um táxi?” with the pronoun attached to the verb by a hyphen.