Can I say "barely" instead of "hardly" in this context?

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes! "Barely" and "hardly" are synonyms, so it's fine to replace "barely" with "hardly" in this context. They both mean "scarcely" or "a minimal amount." There are some circumstances where one sounds more natural and is more common to use than the other. Unfortunately, it's difficult to explain why one is preferred over the other, but I will list example sentences where you can use both and where one is preferred. Ex: I can hardly wait => hardly is used more often here Ex: We hardly/barely ever get to see each other. Ex: He barely/hardly knows her. Ex: I barely made it on time. => barely is preferred Ex: He barely had enough money => barely is preferred

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