Understanding「それでも時に凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい」

Question

人は一人でなど強くなれん

皆で支え合い、温め合い

それでも時に凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい

I have difficulty figuring out the overall meaning of this sentence. What 時に means? sometimes? Does 凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい mean "friends can be strict to the extent that makes you to tremble"?

Answer 1

What 時に means? sometimes?

Right! 時に means "sometimes". 時に sounds more literary than [時々]{ときどき}.

Does 凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい mean "friends can be strict to the extent that makes you to tremble"?

[人]{ひと}の[世]{よ}, literary "world of human", is almost synonymous to [世間]{せけん} or [世]{よ}の[中]{なか}, "the world", "society".

I think your understanding of ～になるほど is correct. 「それでも時に凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい」 literally means "Still, the world/society is sometimes harsh/severe to the extent that it almost freezes you". Please rewrite it to what sounds more natural in your language.

Answer 2

Yes, here「時に」means sometimes, like 時々、たまに. Per Google's definition:

《副詞的に》 時々。また、たまに。何かのはずみに。どうかすると。

凍えそう: the verb stem of 凍える{こごえる} (to freeze) + clitic suffix そう
looks like (it's) about to freeze

になるほど is explained in detail here in this answer. It expresses a degree to which something else is described as (by a modifier).

でも時に凍えそうになるほど人の世は厳しい

can be roughly rendered as:

But sometimes the world can be so cruel that it feels like freezing.

Or

But sometimes the world can be freezingly cruel.