很少(hěn shǎo) - seldom, rarely; very few in Mandarin

很少 (hěn shǎo) does two jobs. In front of a verb it is the frequency adverb seldom or rarely: 我很少看电视, 他很少来. In front of a noun phrase, usually with 有, it means very few: 很少有人知道.

Watch the tones. Two third tones in a row means the first one shifts to a rising tone in speech, so 很少 comes out as hén shǎo. The written pinyin keeps both as hěn shǎo; the sandhi is not spelled.

The scale runs 总是 (always), 经常 (often), 有时 (sometimes), 很少 (rarely), 从来不 (never). 很少 is a soft negative, so it does not take another negator: say 我很少去 for I rarely go, not 我很少不去. And unlike English "rarely", it never fronts the sentence for emphasis; it stays glued in front of the verb.