どころか is used to express to the listener that the result was almost the exact opposite from what you would actually expect, e.g. Far from being angry about his son’s decision, the father was overjoyed. It attaches to the dictionary form of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

かれは明らかにわるいことをしたのに、あやまるどころかほかひとのせいにしたんだよ。
Although he’d clearly done wrong, far from apologising he blamed it on someone else.
電話でんわどころか、メールもおくってくれなかった。
Never mind a telephone call, she didn’t even send an email.
いまは、くるまどころか、自転車じてんしゃでもうおかねがない。
At the moment I don’t even have money to buy a bicycle let alone a car.
警察けいさついかけられて減速げんそくするどころか、加速かそくしてげた。
He was being chased by police but instead of slowing down he accelerated away.
かれ漢字かんじどころか、ひらがなでもめない。
He can’t even read hiragana, let alone kanji.
You May Also Like

Expressing the Potential (できる)

In order to express the potential in Japanese we need to alter the verb ending. The way we…

The Contextual Particle (で)

The contextual particle で is one of the most versatile and difficult to fully master. It has many…

How Difficult is Japanese?

If you’re thinking of learning Japanese then the chances are that you’re wondering: “Is Japanese really that difficult?”…

Combining Particles (への, での, との)

Like は and も, the possessive particle の can also append itself to other particles to help modify…