How come this sentence そんなことでどうする？ takes on so many forms?


ロニキス

「はは。クロード、これしきの事で怯えているのか？少尉ともあろうものが、そんなことでどうする？

The context is that Ronixis is a commander who hands Claude a pistol and tells
him to use it in case of an attack.

I'm confused at exactly what そんなことでどうする？ means.

On one post そんなことで means "such a (little) thing".

Someone on another site wrote to me that: _Kind of hard to explain since it's
an idiom, the literal translation would be "what will you do when you are like
that? "_ and _it's a phrase used when you expect more from the person you are
talking to._




こと refers to something intangible. This そんなこと refers to クロード's current
condition/situation/appearance. で after it is a particle that marks a
condition/situation/cause (like _with_ or _in_ in English). どうする literally
means "what do you do", but here it's a rhetorical question that effectively
means どうしようもない/どうにもならない ("it's helpless", "you can't do anything", "it gets
you nowhere", etc.). Put together, そんなことでどうする roughly means something like
"What can you do if you're like that" or "You're useless in such a condition".
Nevertheless, this is indeed a set expression (if not an idiom), so you can
remember it as-is. Likewise, if someone says こんなことでどうする to themself, it means
something like "This (situation) is not good, I must do better".




こと refers to something intangible. This そんなこと refers to クロード's current
condition/situation/appearance. で after it is a particle that marks a
condition/situation/cause (like _with_ or _in_ in English). どうする literally
means "what do you do", but here it's a rhetorical question that effectively
means どうしようもない/どうにもならない ("it's helpless", "you can't do anything", "it gets
you nowhere", etc.). Put together, そんなことでどうする roughly means something like
"What can you do if you're like that" or "You're useless in such a condition".
Nevertheless, this is indeed a set expression (if not an idiom), so you can
remember it as-is. Likewise, if someone says こんなことでどうする to themself, it means
something like "This (situation) is not good, I must do better".

