Rather than A, prefer B (与其…宁可)

Structure 与其 + A，宁可/宁愿 + B

与其…宁可…/宁愿… (yǔqí… nìngkě…/nìngyuàn…) weighs two options and resignedly picks the second as the lesser evil: "rather than A, I'd prefer B". It shares the opener 与其 with 与其…不如… (HSK 4, id hsk4-yuqi-buru), but the closing differs and so does the nuance: 不如 recommends B as the neutral, sensible choice, whereas 宁可/宁愿 conveys a more personal, costly preference, that of someone accepting a sacrifice to avoid something worse: 与其坐以待毙，宁可放手一搏 = "rather than wait helplessly for death, I'd rather risk everything in one go". It belongs to written or cultivated speech.

Examples

与yǔ其qí坐zuò以yǐ待dài毙bì，宁nìng可kě放fàng手shǒu一yī搏bó。
Rather than wait helplessly for the end, I'd rather risk everything in one go.
与yǔ其qí求qiú人rén，他tā宁nìng愿yuàn自zì己jǐ吃chī苦kǔ。
Rather than ask others for favors, he'd rather suffer on his own.
与yǔ其qí勉miǎn强qiáng维wéi持chí，宁nìng可kě趁chèn早zǎo结jié束shù。
Rather than keep it going by force, I'd rather end it sooner.
与yǔ其qí留liú下xià遗yí憾hàn，宁nìng愿yuàn当dāng面miàn把bǎ话huà说shuō清qīng。
Rather than be left with regret, I'd rather lay it all out face to face.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.