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. OR Nobody told him 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?

In the sentence above, "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".