# почти ничего



## Parmezan_Olivkovich

Доброго времени суток!

Подскажите, пожалуйста, как передать по-английски "почти ничего"?
Например, "Я почти ничего не понял".

I didn't understand almost anything.
I understood almost nothing.

Или как-то по другому?


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## Sobakus

Parmezan_Olivkovich said:


> I understood almost nothing.



Вторая фраза звучит примерно как "я понял почти ничего". Логически – верно, грамматически – выдаёт иностранца с "двойным отрицанием" в родном языке.


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## Rosett

Второе звучит нормально, первое - не очень.
Способов передать данную мысль - добрый десяток.


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## esperansa

I hardly understood it all.
I understood hardly anything.


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## Kirill V.

I would change the word order:
_(Oh, my God) I hardly understood anything_


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## Colora

Hi! It depends on the tone of your voice during verbal communication. "I understood almost nothing", used to indicate negative feelings and disappointment while "I almost didn't understand anything", implies you understood at least something useful for you today, but you believe that some day this information will be clear and easily understood by you.


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## Drink

"I hardly/barely understood anything." и "I understood almost/nearly nothing." оба подходят.

"I almost/nearly understood nothing." и "I almost/nearly didn't understand anything." озаначают немножко не то: То, что почти было так, что я ничего не понял, но потом наконец-то чего-то уж понял.


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## Parmezan_Olivkovich

Большое всем спасибо! Much obliged, gentlemen!


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## Rosett

I hardly understood it at all.


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## esperansa

Поправьте, если ошибаюсь, но я бы перевела это на русский как



kayve said:


> I would change the word order:
> _(Oh, my God) I hardly understood anything_



Я ничего не понял.



Rosett said:


> I hardly understood it at all.



Я вообще это не понял.


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## Kirill V.

Я ничего не понял = I didn't understand anything.
Hardly передает оттенок "едва" - Я едва что-то понял (но что-то все-таки понял ) = Я почти ничего не понял


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## Drink

Rosett said:


> I hardly understood it at all.



Это звучит как-то не так, так же как по-русски "Я почти совсем не понял".


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## esperansa

kayve said:


> Я ничего не понял = I didn't understand anything.
> Hardly передает оттенок "едва" - Я едва что-то понял (но что-то все-таки понял ) = Я почти ничего не понял



Sometimes the word "hardly" is used to mean '*not*'. Don't you think that this is the case with your example here? *Anything* is mostly used in interrogative and negative sentences. Your example is *the negative sentence* with the word _hardly_ that means 'not' and the word _anything_ that is used in negations.

Получаем типичное отрицание: не понял (hardly understood) ничего (anything).


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## Drink

kayve said:


> Я ничего не понял = I didn't understand anything.
> Hardly передает оттенок "едва" - Я едва что-то понял (но что-то все-таки понял ) = Я почти ничего не понял



Нет, "hardly" такого оттенка не передает (смотрите пост #7).


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## esperansa

Hi, Drink.

Explain please the following:
1) When do we use *hardly* in the meaning almost not
2) When do we use *hardly* in the meaning not.


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## Drink

esperansa said:


> Hi, Drink.
> 
> Explain please the following:
> 1) When do we use *hardly* in the meaning almost not
> 2) When do we use *hardly* in the meaning not.



There is a difference between how they apply to nouns/adjectives and how they apply to verbs.

Nouns:

"That is hardly an apple" means "that is basically not an apple, despite some insignificant resemblance".
"That is almost/nearly not apple" means "that basically is an apple, but it is very close to not being one".

Also, "barely" (when applied to nouns/adjectives) is much closer in meaning to "almost not" and "nearly not" than to "hardly".

Verbs:

"He hardly/barely ate the apple" means "he only started to eat the apple a little bit, but left the rest"; you are saying that, in essence, he did not eat the apple.
"He almost/nearly did not eat the apple" means "he ate the apple despite some circumstance that came close to preventing him from eating it (e.g. he forgot about it, he lost it, he did not want to at first)"; you are saying that he did eat the apple (how much of the apple he ate is not important).


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## esperansa

Drink said:


> "He hardly/barely ate the apple" means "he only started to eat the apple a little bit, but left the rest"; you are saying that, in essence, he did not eat the apple.



Could you clarify the example: _I hardly understood anything ?_ Did he understand a little of information or in essence he did not understand information at all?


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## Drink

esperansa said:


> Could you clarify the example: _I hardly understood anything ?_ Did he understand a little of information or in essence he did not understand information at all?



In essence, he did not understand any information.


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## esperansa

Drink said:


> In essence, he did not understand any information.


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## Drink

But of course it is frequently used hyperbolically.


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