ほとんど

ほとんど is used to express that something is true for almost all of a group, or that it happens to a very small extent. It can function as adverb modifying verbs, adjectives, or full clauses, and it can also act as a determiner before a noun with の to mean “most of the ….” When used with a verb, ほとんど often implies that the action occurs or the state exists to a very high degree, sometimes with a nuance of “almost” or “nearly.” When paired with a negative verb, it conveys “hardly … / rarely ….” It is common in everyday speech for talking about frequency, quantity, or proportion of a group. Examples show both distribution across a group (ほとんどの人) and occurrence frequency (ほとんど眠っている).