Focus particle 'schwerlich' (hardly)

schwerlich is a formal focus particle meaning hardly / scarcely. It expresses a low likelihood - effectively almost certainly not - and is typical of careful written or argumentative German.

It modifies the whole proposition and usually stands in the middle field.

• Das lässt sich schwerlich beweisen. - That can hardly be proven.
• Er wird schwerlich rechtzeitig kommen. - He will hardly arrive on time.
• Eine bessere Lösung ist schwerlich denkbar. - A better solution is scarcely conceivable.

Common mistakes: schwerlich is not the adverb schwer (= with difficulty / heavily). Er arbeitet schwer means he works hard; er wird schwerlich arbeiten means he is unlikely to work. The particle already implies negation, so adding nicht is wrong (schwerlich nicht is incorrect). Reserve it for formal contexts; in speech wohl kaum is more natural.

'schwerlich' (hardly / scarcely) expresses a negative likelihood, formally.

Formal 'hardly/scarcely'; implies it is almost impossible.

'schwerlich' drückt formell eine geringe Wahrscheinlichkeit aus (kaum).