Hardly

Hardly is an adverb.

Hardly has a negative meaning. It normally means ‘almost not at all’ or ‘only just’. We can use it in mid position, or before an adjective or a noun:

• He wore a big hat that covered his head and you could hardly see his face. (you could only see a small part of his face)
• It’s hardly surprising that Leeds, England’s third largest city, is now fast becoming a very popular UK holiday destination.
• At first hardly a person in the audience moved, although some umbrellas were opened. But then the rain came down more heavily.

Hardly any, hardly ever

We often use hardly before any, anyone, anybody, anything and ever in negative clauses, but not before no, none, no one, nobody, nothing or never:

• At first, hardly anyone came. (almost no one came)
• Not: At first hardly no one came.
• There was hardly anything to eat.
• She lives in Scotland so we hardly ever see her now, but I like to keep in touch.

Hardly at all

We sometimes use at all after the verb, adjective or noun which follows hardly to give greater emphasis:

• I hardly slept at all last night.

Hardly and very little, very few

Hardly + any(thing) has a similar meaning to very little or very few:

• I hardly ate anything yesterday. (= I ate very little yesterday.)
• She hardly buys any new clothes at all. (= She buys very few new clothes.)

See also

• Little, a little, few, a few

Word order

We usually put hardly in mid position, between the subject and the main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after main verb be:

• My piano lesson is on Monday, and I’ve hardly played it this week.
• I can hardly wait.
• There were hardly any tourists.

When hardly is modifying either the main verb or the following noun, we can put it directly before the verb or before the noun phrase:

• She hardly had any sleep. or She had hardly any sleep.

In more formal styles, to refer to something happening immediately after something else, we use hardly … when. We move hardly to front position and invert the subject and verb:

• Hardly [V] had [S] I arrived there when I was called back to the head office 100 miles away. (I arrived there and then I was immediately called back.)

warning

Hardly is not the adverb form of the adjective hard. The adverb form of hard is also hard.

See also

• Hard
• Hardly ever, rarely, scarcely, seldom