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I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in
"nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or
-ka; or possibly two particles I don't know which could come together.

But just now I looked it up in `wwwjdict` and it tells me it's a "feminine
copula". So does this mean "なの" (nano) is a synonym of "です" (desu) that only
female speakers use? Assuming it's not very formal, what should I use instead
as a noun?

Also does this mean it's a verb and if so what kind of conjugation or other
forms does it have?

**EDIT**

Since this has turned out to be quite subtle and even controversial, here is
my sentence:

> (Original English: Why must life be so difficult?)
>
> Japanese translation: なんで[人生]{じんせい}はそんなに[大変]{たいへん}なの？
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verbs register copula questions sentence-final-particles
What exactly is "なの" (nano)?
なの is kind of a conclusion used at the end of explanation with a calm/quit
sense. Example.,

> 彼女は大学生なのよ She is university student, **you know**.

It is just combination of two particles な and の.

なのです is polite form, and なの is same with なのだ just omitting だ after that.

sometime it is used as 〜なんです。

なの is used by females most of the time, but なんです may use by males too.
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なの relates to the ～のだ construction, and as such provides explanatory,
secondary, or supporting information (which could be a reason, a cause, or
other fact the speaker feels would aid in the listener's understanding). Note
that the な is only used if the preceding word is a noun or な-adjective.
Following a verb or い-adjective, only の is used:

> あの公園はとてもきれいなの。 That park is beautiful.
>
> よく見たら、その動物はどうやら猫なの。 When I took a closer look, that animal turned out to be
> a cat.
>
> その後、ちょっと買い物に行ったの。 After that, I went shopping for a bit.
>
> この宿題は本当に難しいの。 This homework is really difficult.

These sentences have a feminine sound to them; to make them more masculine,
change の to んだ, or のだ in written form. んです, or のです in written form, is a
polite equivalent which is also gender-neutral.

Also, while this doesn't come through in the English, the use of の implies
that the preceding sentence plays a supporting role in the surrounding
context. It's still important, but the role it plays is more like that of a
framework which buttresses the speaker's main point. This is a somewhat
delicate inflection, the complete treatment of which is beyond the scope of
this question.
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**EDIT:***As per Derek's comment, I have misunderstood the meaning of copula.
My examples here were all ending particles (jp: 終助詞).*

The {Noun/なAdj}-なの or {いAdj/Verb}-の ending particle has various usage, and
according to くろしお出版's 日本語文型辞典, the primary users are different according to
usage.

## Question

Used to indicate inquiry. Inclining intonation.  
User: Children as general, or ordinary people towards their close ones
(friends, family).

> てつお：明日どこか行くの？  
>  Tetsuo: Are you going somewhere tomorrow?

## Explanation

To explain a circumstance. Declining intonation.  
User: Children, female people. Light mooded.

> かなこ：うん、町内会でちょっと用事なの。  
>  Kanako: Yeah, I've got something up with the neighbourhood association.

## Assent

Confirmation expression. Intonation can be either inclining or declining.

> てつお：へえ、かなこちゃんってよく町内会に参加してたの。  
>  Tetsuo: Wow, Kanako's quite active in the association, huh. You can see
> that it implies a certain degree of surprise of unexpectedness.

## Light volition

To express volition, either an order or a prohibition, in a light manner.
Declining intonation.  
User: female, towards someone of lower rank (e.g. younger people).

> かなこ：そうよ。てっちゃんもいい加減町内会をサボらないの。そんなんだからいつまでたっても人見知りなのよ。ほら、明日一緒に行くの。いい？  
>  Kanako: That's right. And Tec-chan, you ought to stop skipping association
> meetings. That's why you are always shy of other people. Come on, you should
> go together tomorrow. Oorah?

* * *

See how the の ending particle can be replaced with similar ones. I'll be using
polite form for each:

>   1. 明日どこか行きますか。 (の→ですか)  
>
>   2. (a) はい、町内会で少し用事があります。(の→です)  
>  (b) はい、町内会で少し用事があるからです。(の→だからです)  
>
>   3. そうですか、かなこちゃんはよく町内会に参加していましたか。(の→ですか)  
>
>   4. てつおさんももう町内会をサボらないでください。({verb}ないの→{verb}ないでください  
>
>   5. さあ、明日は一緒に行きなさい。({verb}の→{verb}なさい)
>
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Everyone's done a great job of answering this one, so I'm just going to add a
quick answer. The なの that you're asking about is really just の. The な is only
there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (きれい, 大変, 非常). The most
common way of using this の is as a question marker.

> そうなの - Is it really?

This is the same as そうなんですか but less formal.

> 何をしているの? What are you doing?

The same as 何をしているんですか. Or even less formally, 何してんの?

> 仕事は大変なの? - Is your work difficult?

More formally as 仕事は大変なんですか。

> 元気がないね。どうしたの？ - You don't seem well. What happened?

どうしたの is really common as a way of asking "What's wrong" or "What happened?"

You can use it to answer a question too (高いのよ！ - It _is_ expensive), but I
think the form you were asking about was the question form.

So for your question phrase, なんで人生はそんなに大変なの？, the の is making it a question
(although it would be a question without the の) but also making it more
emotional (in much the same was as のですか adds emotion). I think that women
might use it without the な, even after a noun or na-adjective: 仕事は大変の?

Note here that you should only use this with kids or good friends, and that
there's a rising intonation at the end.
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I stumbled across this question looking for something else, and I realize it's
pretty old by the time I'm writing this, but while some of the answers did
adequately cover the meaning/interpretation, it bugs me a bit that none of the
answers actually explain what's going on grammatically here.

In your sentence, the な in なの is not a particle. It is actually a form of the
verb だ/です. だ can change to な under some circumstances, such as this.

This is actually technically the same thing that is happening when you place a
な-adjective in front of a noun, too. In general, in Japanese you can simply
place a verb, or verb-phrase in front of a noun to make it modify that noun,
like so:

  * リンゴが **落ちた** — (An) apple fell
  * **落ちた** リンゴ — (The) apple which fell _(落ちた is modifying リンゴ)_

With the copula だ, you can technically do this too, but だ is unusual in that
it can't be placed in front of something else as だ, so it ends up changing
form in the process:

  * 本が好き **だ** — (I) like the book
  * 好き **な** 本 — (The) book which (I) like

(This is actually just taking the verb-phrase 好きだ and putting it in front of 本
to modify it, the same as the previous example, but だ changes to な in the
process.)

But anyway, this same changing from だ to な also happens when you add の after a
phrase ending in だ. So if you have a sentence which ends in だ and you want to
turn it into a question by adding の, you need to change だ to な in the process:

  * 大変 **だ** — It is difficult
  * 大変 **な** の？ — Is it difficult?

This same thing also happens when, for example, adding のです to a sentence which
ends in だ/です:

  * 大変 **です**  
→ 大変 **だ** + のです  
→ 大変 **な** のです

(Or also with various other constructions which add の, such as ので, etc.)

So in this case, it is just using の as a question particle on the end of the
sentence, but since the statement-form of the sentence would end with だ, when
adding の for a question, it must become なの on the end instead:

  * 人生はそんなに大変 **だ** — Life is so difficult
  * なんで人生はそんなに大変 **な** の？ — Why is life so difficult?
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