How does のは work in this sentence?


彼が持っているのは二百円です。 Supposedly this means "It is 200 yen that he has.". But I am
really not familiar with this sentence construction. Therefore, I'm not sure
how everything before の works with the rest of the sentence. Or what の is
doing in the first place.




> 彼が持っているのは二百円です
>
> He has 200 yen.
>
> 彼 / が持っている / の
>
> He / has (lit. is holding) / (what he is holding){because の makes が持っている
> into a noun="what he has"}
>
> は / 二百円です
>
> as for / 200 yen is

So literally, it would be, "As for what he is holding, it is 200 yen" - "As
for what he has, it is 200 yen" - "As for what he has, it's 200 yen" - "He has
200 yen"

の turns 彼が持っている into a noun phrase, while は means "as for".

In natural English, it becomes "He has 200 yen." Without context, I cannot
ascertain what is emphasized -see comments below as well as this question:

[AはB emphasizing B, rather than
A](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9830/a%E3%81%AFb-emphasizing-
b-rather-than-a)

Depending on context, perhaps an implied meaning would be, "All he has is 200
yen."




> 彼が持っているのは二百円です
>
> He has 200 yen.
>
> 彼 / が持っている / の
>
> He / has (lit. is holding) / (what he is holding){because の makes が持っている
> into a noun="what he has"}
>
> は / 二百円です
>
> as for / 200 yen is

So literally, it would be, "As for what he is holding, it is 200 yen" - "As
for what he has, it is 200 yen" - "As for what he has, it's 200 yen" - "He has
200 yen"

の turns 彼が持っている into a noun phrase, while は means "as for".

In natural English, it becomes "He has 200 yen." Without context, I cannot
ascertain what is emphasized -see comments below as well as this question:

[AはB emphasizing B, rather than
A](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9830/a%E3%81%AFb-emphasizing-
b-rather-than-a)

Depending on context, perhaps an implied meaning would be, "All he has is 200
yen."

