À peine - French Expression

Expression: à   peine Pronunciation: [ah pehn] Meaning: hardly, barely Literal translation: to pain, to effort Register: normal Notes The French expression à   peine acts like an adverb and means hardly or barely. If you have trouble with this expression, the literal translation might help. One possibility is to pain, which would seem to suggest that whatever is being (barely) done is so difficult as to be painful, and therefore just the minimum amount is done. But peine also means effort, so a more accurate literal translation might be with effort, as if you have to expend effort to perform the task. Examples Jai à   peine faim. (Im barely hungry.)Il est à   peine midi. (Its barely noon, It just struck noon.)Ça saperà §oit à   peine. (Its hardly noticeable, You can barely see it.)Cest à   peine croyable. (Its hard to believe.)