"hardly realize" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It can be used when describing a situation where someone only has a small or limited understanding or awareness of something. Here is an example sentence: "John hardly realizes the impact of his actions on those around him."
You can hardly realize how serious we were about it".
"One can hardly realize what I suffered with that shattered leg," Perkins wrote in his memoir.
It is so automatic that people hardly realize that seeing what they see and hearing what they hear is only an interpretation.
Over the last generation, schools have changed, and our views of them have changed also -- so completely that we hardly realize it anymore.
The story is so involving, with its graphic accounts of mind control and sensitive observations about victim psychology, that you hardly realize how skillfully Walters has worked her unifying theme into three intersecting plot lines.
Because of the way debts are applied, many people hardly realize the true price of items bought on credit.
She hardly realized that it was time to say goodbye.
Although the debate was lively, Ms. Ellis's claim that she encourages dialogue was hardly realized.
Lady tells Percy Hammond that it is wonderful how he can say the most cutting things about/person so blandly that the person hardly realizes it.
Six years ago when Ellison volunteered to coach his daughter Caroline's middle-school math team, he hardly realized he would soon become a leading authority in the niche market of advanced mathematics textbooks for elementary- and middle-school students.
Six years ago when Glenn Ellison volunteered to coach his daughter Caroline's middle-school math team, he hardly realized he would soon become a leading authority in the niche market of advanced mathematics textbooks for elementary- and middle-school students.
