Hardlyis an adverb.
Hardlyhas 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 couldhardlysee his face.(you could only see a small part of his face)
It’shardlysurprising that Leeds, England’s third largest city, is now fast becoming a very popular UK holiday destination.
At firsthardlya person in the audience moved, although some umbrellas were opened. But then the rain came down more heavily.
Hardly any,hardly ever
We often usehardlybeforeany,anyone,anybody,anythingandeverinnegative clauses, but not beforeno,none,no one,nobody,nothingornever:
At first,hardlyanyone came.(almost no one came)
Not:At first hardly no one came.
There washardlyanything to eat.
She lives in Scotland so wehardlyever see her now, but I like to keep in touch.
Hardly at all
We sometimes useat allafter the verb, adjective or noun which followshardlyto give greater emphasis:
Ihardlysleptat alllast night.
Hardlyandvery little,very few
Hardly + any(thing)has asimilarmeaning tovery littleorvery few:
Ihardlyateanythingyesterday.(= I ate very little yesterday.)
Shehardlybuysanynew clothes at all.(= She buys very few new clothes.)
See also:
Little,a little,few,a few
Word order
We usually puthardlyin mid position, between the subject and the main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after main verbbe:
My piano lesson is on Monday, and I’vehardlyplayed it this week.
I canhardlywait.
There werehardlyany tourists.
Whenhardlyis modifying either the main verb or the following noun, we can put it directly before the verb or before the noun phrase:
Shehardlyhad any sleep. or She hadhardlyany sleep.
In more formal styles, to refer to something happening immediately after something else, we usehardly … when. We movehardlyto front position and invert the subject and verb:
Hardly[V]had[S]Iarrived there when I was called back to the head office 100 miles away.(I arrived there and then I was immediately called back.)
Hardlyis not the adverb form of the adjectivehard. The adverb form ofhardis alsohard.
See also:
Hard
Hardly ever,rarely,scarcely,seldom