Hardly is used as an adjective for any situation, but lately is just referring to time in the past. Hardly means barely, but can be used in a few different ways. For example: I hardly hit the car- meaning did not get in a bad accident/ did not hit it hard. Or you can use it like you have not really started you homework: EX- I have hardly started my homework for tomorrow. It is a little confusing because hardly means the opposite of hard. If you hit the desk hard, you might hurt your hand, but if you hardly hit the desk, you just tapped it. You use lately when talking about things you have done recently, and it is means the same things as recently. It is past tense. You might ask a friend, "What have you been doing lately?" "Has school been difficult lately?". Or you could say, "I have not seen him lately", "I have been very busy lately". I hope that helps!

hardly = hầu như không lately = thời gian gần đây