Someone told me that these aren't actually particles, but they're separate
particles put together. I vaguely have an understanding of には and では but it's
とは、のが、 and のは that confuse me a lot.

I heard that とは means with?

Why are these particles combined together? What are their meanings and
purposes?

Is ことが the same thing as のが?
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usage particles
What is とは、のが、のは、には、 へは　and では？
「と」 in this situation is the inclusion particle. 「は」 is the topic marker as
usual. So 「ＸとはＹ」 means "as for with X, Y".

「の」 is the nominalizing particle, which turns a verb phrase into a noun
(gerund). So 「ＸのはＹ」 means "as for Xing, Y". Likewise with 「が」.

「こと」 is used when talking in a general, objective sense, whereas 「の」 is used
when the sense is meant to be specific or subjective.
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「とは」also has a special usage to show amazement of something unexpected or
surprising:

> 80歳で富士山に登る **とは** ねぇ！ → How amazing that he'll climb Mt. Fuji at 80 (years
> old)!
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You should focus your question on は/が itself. Having an other particle before
it does not change its meaning. And does not change the meaning of the article
before, either.

と can be _with_ or used for quotation.

I think there is exceptions but at the moment, you can assume that it is ok to
exchange こと and の when it is after a verb.

The question linked by Dainichi is what you are looking for: [Are there cases
when two or more particles will occur next to each other without intervening
lexical words?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1548/are-there-
cases-when-two-or-more-particles-will-occur-next-to-each-other-without)
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I would recommend getting a book about particles... even something like [A
Dictionary of Japanese
Particles](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/4770023529). _Which is
only about $15 (USD) at present._

Something to consider before getting into the particle combinations is the
idea of は and が. There are a lot of different rules (sometimes seemingly-
contradictory rules,) for は and が. But for the sake of simplicity, just
remember that **は** is **often the first, main subject of** a sentence. **が**
is **kind of the second main subject (the "newer subject" or "focus point",)**
of a sentence.

_Now let's get into the combinations from the question._

## とは

_According to[A Dictionary of Japanese
Particles](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/4770023529):_

  * とは is a combination of particles と and は
  * can mean: **"the thing/concept/idea called"** (i.e. ボタン **とは** なんですか。）
  * can mean: **with** (i.e. わたし、Aさん **とは** スポーツをしたり、勉強したりします。）
  * can mean: **"surprise/shock about something"** (i.e. あの人がそんなバカなことを言った **とは** ・・・）

In the first example, とは actually seems related to when って is used after
dialog, like this: 「ボタン」って、何ですか。 _("Button" <\- pointing to subject, what
is?)_ It's a sort of marker for the previous word... something that makes a
sort of subject out of the phrase before とは.

## のは

  * When のは is used, it often refers to a subject (placed in front of のは,) for example: 
    * 勉強をする **のは** 難しいことです。(i.e. Studying is hard. -or- The **thing** of studying is hard.) Using のは like this effectively turns a subject (a noun or a concept,) into a subject of the sentence.

## のが

  * のが is similar to のは. But the difference comes down to the difference between は and が (explained earlier.)
  * So if we go back to the example used for のは and replace のは with のが: 
    * 私は勉強をする **のが** 難しいことです。(i.e. For me, studying is hard. -or- For me, the **thing** of studying is hard.) Here, the main subject of the sentence is "私 myself". But when のが is used like this, のが (like のは）still effectively turns a subject (a noun or a concept,) into a subject of the sentence, but here, のが is pointing to a "new subject" of the sentence _(the thing of studying.)_

## ことが

  * With the example given with のが, ことが is essentially the same thing. It creates a concept from a given noun, verb, or phrase.
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