How does 也 work in 宁愿冻死也不穿?

Question

In the following sentence:

很多人因为害怕穿秋裤显胖，宁愿冻死也不穿。

What does 也 mean in the sentence? The entire sentence should mean something like the following:

Because of the fear that wearing one more pants behind the trousers make you look fat, so many people rather want to...

I don't understand the last part of the sentence, especially on the 也 part.

According no Pleco, 也 has the following entry (as an adverb):

[for emphasis, often before a negative expression]

• 她一天假也没请过。

But then how does it connect 冻死 and 不穿 and what does the sentence mean?

Also, is my understanding that 也 here works as an emphasis correct?

Answer 1

In this sentence 也 should not be understood individually.In Chinese 宁愿...也... is a coordinating conjunction. It means a choose relationship. You choose the option behind 宁愿 and you give up the option behind 也.

I think it seems like rather...than... in English.宁愿冻死也不穿 may be translated to rather be dead than be wearing the long underwear.

More examples about 宁愿...也...could be see in here;
And More examples about coordinating conjunction in Chinese could be see in here

Answer 2

Refer to the definition 3 in this dictionary:

3. 在复句中表转折意：虽然你不说，我～能猜个八九不离十。

也 is used as the adverbial of concession, like the English word although. 也 follows the result or conclusion.

Answer 3

If it makes it easier to remember, you can relate this usage to the more common gloss of 'also': "[in situations where] people are freezing to death, they'd also prefer not to wear [them].

Or in more natural English: "... won't wear them even if they're freezing to death."

Answer 4

It could be better understood as "still" here in our context.

Even if I get frozen, I "still" would not wear it.

Answer 5

Edit: in the cold light of morning:

I agree with Jian: 宁愿 A 也不愿B： would rather A than B

Literally: 宁愿A也不愿B would want A and not want B

很多人
A lot of people
因为害怕穿秋裤显胖，
because they are afraid of appearing fat if they wear long-johns,
宁愿冻死也不穿。
would rather freeze to death than wear them.

(I prefer fat-looking but warm!)