Hard is not equal to hardly

 Picture: The Western Mysteries

These two adverbs appear similar; the meanings, though, could hardly be more different. In other words, it would be hard to find a pair of similar-looking words that had such different meanings.

Hardly* means very little, or almost not at all. Reasonably close synonyms are scarcely and barely.

Like many other adverbs, hardly can modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, as we can see in the following sentences:

     The cat hardly moved all day. Translation: the cat sat around or slept for most of the day. [Adverb hardly modifies verb moved.]
     We hardly ever go dancing. Meaning: we almost never go dancing. [Adverb hardly modifies adverb ever.]
     A hundred years ago, it was hardly possible (almost impossible) for women to become doctors. [Adverb hardly modifies adjective possible.]

There, that wasn't too hard to understand, was it? In the previous sentence, hard is an adjective, as it follows the verb be.

When it's used for physical description, the adjective hard is the opposite of soft. For instance, a hard surface is one that does not bend or yield.

As an abstract idea, hard means effort is required to do something; it's difficult or challenging.
     Jane works hard; in other words, she makes a lot of effort.
     I couldn't solve the math problems; they were too hard.
     Bill also had a hard time doing the math test.
     It's hard to explain some of these usage and grammar points. [Notice that with the expression It's hard to, the preposition to travels with hard.]
     It's sometimes hard to use new expressions, even when you know the meaning.
The tense of the verb be can be changed, as illustrated below:
     After the holidays, it was hard to start getting up at 5:30 AM again.
     "It will be hard to get 100% on the vocabulary quiz," she said.
     She said it would be hard to get 100% on the vocabulary quiz. (Reported speech form uses past tense.)

To have a hard time is to go through difficulties.
     I had a hard time learning English, but I'm pretty fluent now.
     Mary said she'd had a hard time learning English. (Note: Past perfect tense in this sentence implies that she knows it now.)

Another common idiom is to give someone a hard time, or make it difficult for them. [With this expression, the verb give is the only word that can be changed to reflect the appropriate tense.]

There, that wasn't too hard, was it? Still, it's hard to say [another expression with hard] whether my ESL readers understood my attempt to explain. [It's hard to say or it's hard to tell means it is difficult to measure or determine.]

*If you check this link, ignore Definitions 4 and 5: these meanings are hardly ever used. In fact, in my long years of deep exposure to my native tongue, I've never heard or seen the word used this way.

If you're ready for a quiz, you can try one here.