Wat betekent “bijna niet” in het Nederlands?

Bijna means "almost"; combined with niet (not), it produces "almost not" — the closest Dutch comes to English "barely" or "hardly." The phrase says the action or quality is present in such a small amount that it's nearly absent. Hij eet bijna niet (he barely eats), ik slaap bijna niet (I barely sleep), het regent bijna niet (it hardly rains).

Dutch reaches for bijna niet in three contexts. First, observed scarcity: someone or something occurring in such low quantity that the speaker wants to flag it. Second, low-grade complaint: signaling that the speaker isn't getting enough sleep, food, attention. Third, near-misses: bijna niet gehaald (barely caught it / barely made it).

A pragmatic note: bijna niet sits in the middle of the negation-intensity scale. Stronger than niet veel (not much), softer than helemaal niet (not at all), closer to neutral observation than complaint.