比较

比较 (bǐjiào) is one of the most useful HSK 3 words because it works in two ways. As an adverb it means 'relatively / comparatively / rather' and softens adjectives — 比较忙 (relatively busy), 比较贵 (kind of expensive). It implicitly compares the thing to a norm or to alternatives, so it is gentler than the absolute 很 (very).

As a verb it means 'to compare,' as in 比较两个城市 (compare two cities) or 把 A 和 B 比较 (compare A with B). Two differences from English: first, the adverbial 比较 does NOT need an explicit standard — Chinese speakers leave the comparison implicit, while English usually needs 'more X than Y'; second, 比较 cannot be combined with 不 to negate the adjective directly (you say 不太忙, not 比较不忙).