Hardly

Negation

How do you say the following in English? (Select the space underneath each number to check your answer.)

1. Personne n'a rien vu.
Nobody saw anything.

2. Personne ne lui a rien dit
Nobody said anything to him/her. OR Nobody told him/her anything.

3. T'inquiète. Personne n'a rien dit à personne!
Not to worry. Nobody told anyone anything.

4. Il n'y avait rien nulle part.
There was nothing anywhere. OR There wasn't anything anywhere.

As you notice above, each sentence contains only one negation (no- / not), after which any- is used.

The meaning of "hardly"

Are you working hard or hardly working?

Here, working hard means (as you would expect) travailler dur. Hardly working on the other hand means travailler à peine. "Hardly" doesn't have anything to do with "hard" (historically it was used in conjunction with "not" in the same way that French guère is/was used with a pleonastic ne.)

Knowing this, how would you translate the following?

(Again, check your answer by selecting the space under the question.)

1. Hardly anyone came to my party. :/
Presque personne n'est venu à ma fête.

2. Hardly anything is ready.
Presque rien n'est prêt.

3. There was hardly anywhere to park.
Il n'y avait presque nulle part (pour / où) se garer.

4. There was hardly any room left in the box.
Il n'y avait presque plus de place dans le carton.

Exercise

Write (or think of) two sentences containing:

• hardly anyone
• hardly anything
• hardly anywhere
• hardly any N (N = noun)

Compare to:

• nearly everyone
• just about everything
• almost everywhere