hardly, scarcely, barely

1. He has hardly any money (= «very little money»); I hardly ever go out (= «I very seldom go out»); It hardly rained at all last summer; Her case is so heavy that she can hardly lift it. I hardly know him (= «I know him very slightly»). He looked hard at it (= «He stared at it»); He hardly looked at it (= «He gave it only a brief glance»). scarcely any / scarcely ever / scarcely at all … There were scarcely twenty people there (= «probably fewer») There were barely twenty people there (= «only just twenty»). I can barely see it (= «I can only just see it.»

[«hardly,» «scarcely» y «barely» son prácticamente negativos en significado. «hardly» se usa con «any,» «ever,» «at all» y el verbo «can.» Pero se puede usar con otros verbos («I hardly know him»). «scarcely» puede significar «almost not» y reemplazar a «hardly» en los ejemplos de arriba («scarcely any,» «scarcely ever, «scarcely at all»), pero se usa sobre sobre todo con el significado de «not quite» («There were scarcely twenty people there» (= «probably fewer»). «barely significa «no más que,» «apenas.» («There were barely twenty people there» (= «only just twenty»))