hardly
adverb
1. scarcely (used to qualify a statement by saying that it is true to an insignificant degree):ほとんど...ない(取るに足らない度合いであることが確かだと言うことで陳述を限定するのに使われる) 〖数量･程度〗〖通例any, at allなどを伴って〗ほとんど…ない; 〖can, be able toを伴って〗満足に…できない (!行為の困難さを表す)
e.g. the little house in which he lived was hardly bigger than a hut: その彼が住んでいた小さな家はほとんど小屋と変わらない大きさだった。
e.g. a thing hardly bigger than a credit card: クレジットカードと同じくらいの大きさのもの
e.g. we hardly know each other.: 私達はお互いをほとんど知らない
e.g. the party had hardly started when the police arrived.: そのパーティは警察が到着した時にほとんど始まったばかりだった。
e.g. she could hardly sit up: 彼女はほとんど立ち上がることができない
e.g. I nodded, hardly able to breath.: 私はうなずき、呼吸がほとんどできなかった。
(しばしば不賛成を表して)とうてい…ない, どう見ても…ない(certainly not)
e.g. I hardly think so.: 私はそうは思わない。
e.g. the rule worked hardly.: その規則は厳しく作用した。
PHRASES
hardly any
e.g. they sold hardly any books.: 彼らは本をほとんど売らなかった。
e.g. hardly any had previous convictions.: ほとんど誰も前科がなかった。
〖頻度〗; 〖hardly ever〗 ほとんど/めったに…ない
e.g. we hardly ever see them.: 私達はめったに彼らに会わない。
USAGE
Words like hardly, scarcely, and rarely should not be used with negative constructions. Thus, it is correct to say I can hardly wait but incorrect to say I can't hardly wait. This is because adverbs like hardly are treated as if they were negatives, and it is a grammatical rule of standard English that double negatives are not acceptable. Words like hardly behave as negatives in other respects as well, as for example in combining with terms such as any or at all, which normally occur only where a negative is present (thus, standard usage is I've got hardly any money, but not I've got any money). See also usage at double negative.
USAGE
Hardly . . . than versus hardly . . . when: the conjunction than is best left to work with comparative adjectives and adverbs ( lovelier than; more quickly than). Consider a construction such as Sheila had hardly recovered from the flu when she lost her beloved beagle: in speech, one might tend to use than as the complement to hardly, but in careful writing, since time is the point, the word to use is when. In a more formal context, however, the idea would be better conveyed: No sooner had Sheila recovered from the flu than she lost her beloved beagle. In this sentence, than does belong because it is the natural conjunction after the comparative adjective sooner.