相对而言

相對而言

xiāngduì ér yán

phrase HSK 7-9 #28,719

Meanings

Literally 'comparing and speaking'

HSK 2

相对而言，今年的冬天不太冷。

Xiāngduì'éryán, jīnnián de dōngtiān bùtài lěng.

Relatively speaking, this winter isn't too cold.

HSK 2

相对而言，中文比英文难学。

Xiāngduì'éryán, Zhōngwén bǐ Yīngwén nán xué.

Comparatively speaking, Chinese is harder to learn than English.

grammar

相对而言 is a set phrase typically placed at the beginning of a sentence. It's interchangeable with 相对来说 (xiāngduì lái shuō), but slightly more formal.

相 xiāng

对 duì

而 ér

言 yán