どころか
Far from, Anything but
Structure
［い］Adjective + どころか
［な］Adjective + な + どころか
Noun + どころか
(1)Verb［ない］
Explanation
どころか is formed by combining the noun ところ ('place' or 'situation') and the particle か. The sound change from ところ to どころ is a regular phonetic alteration that occurs when certain words are joined together.
どころか can be translated as 'far from...', 'on the contrary...', or 'let alone...'. It serves to strongly refute the preceding idea, while simultaneously placing emphasis on a different, often more extreme, reality.
どころか typically follows the plain form of a word. This means the dictionary form for verbs and い-adjectives. It can also connect directly to nouns, and to な-adjectives (sometimes using な, and other times attaching to the stem).
- あの映画は面白いどころか、つまらなかったよ。Far from being interesting, that movie was boring.
- この部屋は涼しいどころか、蒸し暑い。Far from being cool, this room is humid and hot.
- 彼の部屋はきれいなどころか、すごく汚かった。Far from being clean, his room was extremely dirty.
- 彼は漢字どころか、ひらがなも書けない。He can't even write hiragana, let alone kanji.
A sentence using どころか is structured with two parts. The second part must always present what the speaker feels is a more accurate or significant state of affairs, often in direct contrast to the first part.Fun Fact
Since か turns どころ into a matter of doubt, you can think of どころか literally meaning 'is it a matter of (A)?'. This creates the nuance of 'it's not even close to (A)' in a statement, or a rhetorical 'You think it's (A)?!' when used as a direct question.
- 遊んでいるどころか。This is hardly the time to be playing around!
- 私が好きなどころか？あんな人、大嫌いだよ！Do you honestly think I like him?! I can't stand that kind of person!
Examples
今日は涼しいどころか、蒸し暑いくらいだ。
Far from being cool, it's actually humid and hot today.
値段は下がるどころか、かえって上がってしまった。
Far from going down, the price actually went up.
この試験は簡単どころか、非常に難しかった。
Far from being easy, this exam was extremely difficult.
試合に勝つどころか、大差で負けてしまった。
Far from winning the match, we lost by a huge margin.
彼のジョークで笑うどころか、みんな静かになってしまった。
Far from laughing at his joke, everyone just went silent.
旅行どころか、家から出るお金もない。
Far from being able to travel, I don't even have money to leave the house.
彼に奢るどころか、逆に奢ってもらってしまった。
Far from me treating him, he ended up treating me instead.
マラソンを走るどころか、１キロメートルも歩けない。
Far from being able to run a marathon, I can't even walk one kilometer.
この薬を飲んだら、良くなるどころか気分が悪くなった。
After I took this medicine, far from getting better, I started to feel sick.
練習したのに、上手になるどころか下手になった気がする。
Even though I practiced, far from improving, I feel like I've gotten worse.
パソコンを修理しようとしたら、直るどころか完全に壊れてしまった。
When I tried to repair my computer, far from fixing it, I ended up breaking it completely.
謝ったのに、許してくれるどころか、もっと怒らせてしまった。
Even though I apologized, far from forgiving me, I made them even angrier.