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.
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1is there any more context for the quote? – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 21:51
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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
Depending on context, perhaps an implied meaning would be, "All he has is 200 yen."
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1I am not sure what you mean by “emphasis on ‘what he has.’” As I understand it, the sentence puts an emphasis on 二百円, as the English translation in the question suggests. For example, the sentence in question can naturally arise in the following context: 彼が持っているのは二百円です。二百ドルではありません。 In other words, the 彼が持っているの part is known information, and 二百円 is new information. – Tsuyoshi Ito Dec 21 '12 at 20:37
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@TsuyoshiIto, could you tell me what you think the question in Japanese would be that would elicit the quoted response in the op's question? – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 20:56
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The sentence, "It is 200 yen that he has." is natural only if one is asked a question along the lines of, "What is it that he has?" ...(the english seems somewhat unnatural to me) – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 20:58
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If I translate は as "as for," then the emphasis is on "what he has." Perhaps I am mistaken in this translation. – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 21:01
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I don't understand your point on known vs new information- if the listener knows "what the person has" then why would he ask it? maybe i am not following you correctly. – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 21:03
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No, by “the 彼が持っているの part is known information,” I mean that both the speaker and the listener know that they are not talking about what _she_ has or what he _does_, but what he has. – Tsuyoshi Ito Dec 21 '12 at 21:05
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Sorry, I don't follow. I think I could understand better if you help me with this question- could you tell me what you think the question in Japanese would be that would elicit the quoted response in the op's question? – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 21:07
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The sentence 彼が持っているのは二百円です can be an answer to a question 彼はお金をいくら持っていますか, although the most natural answer to this question is just 二百円です. I think that it requires more context if we want to make the sentence 彼が持っているのは二百円です more natural. – Tsuyoshi Ito Dec 21 '12 at 21:14
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I thought the same thing,- so if the most natural answer in japanese would be 二百円です, would that answer not place a greater emphasis on 二百円 than 彼が持っているのは二百円です.? I assume the latter makes a point of stating "what he has" by elucidating what is left out in the simpler, more natural response. – yadokari Dec 21 '12 at 21:20
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I see your logic, and this is more complicated than I thought. Indeed, if someone says 彼が持っているのは二百円です when 二百円です should be sufficient, there must be a reason for that. (In fact, my first thought upon seeing this question was “When is that sentence used?”) But that is because of the comparison to the most natural response. There is a context where 二百円です cannot be used as a response. Consider the following conversation: A: 彼は二百ドル持っているのでしたね。 B: いいえ、彼が持っているのは二百円です。二百ドルではありません。 In B’s response, there is no emphasis on the 彼が持っているのは part. – Tsuyoshi Ito Dec 21 '12 at 21:28
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my quibble is that "It is 200 yen that he has." is an unnatural english sentence to me. if anyone can propose a more natural alternative please do so. – yadokari Dec 22 '12 at 00:30
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The issue with this answer is not related to the sentence “It is 200 yen that he has” in English. (In addition, I have never claimed that it is natural as an English sentence, have I?) – Tsuyoshi Ito Dec 22 '12 at 00:38
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Never mind--I'll delete my comment. I don't want to cause further confusion. (But I might post a separate question explaining what I was thinking later.) – Dec 22 '12 at 20:12
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@Tsuyoshi Ito, thanks for your help. I did not mean to imply that you had thought the quoted sentence was natural. (just that i thought it was unnatural) – yadokari Dec 23 '12 at 21:16