Learn Hardcore Chinese: zhè jiā kāfēiguǎn de yīnyuè ràng dàjiā hěn fàngsōng. - The music in this café makes everyone feel very relaxed.

这家咖啡馆 literally: “this-CL café”
家 as a classifier is used for:
- shops: 这家商店 – this shop
- restaurants: 那家饭馆 – that restaurant
- companies: 三家公司 – three companies

So 这家咖啡馆 = “this café (this particular business)”.

Why is there a 的 between 咖啡馆 and 音乐? What does 这家咖啡馆的音乐 mean exactly?

的 links a modifier to a noun. Here it’s like the English possessive ’s or “of”.

这家咖啡馆的音乐 = “this café’s music” / “the music of this café”

Structure:

这家咖啡馆 (modifier) + 的
- 音乐 (main noun)

Without 的, 这家咖啡馆音乐 is ungrammatical here. You normally need 的 after a longer or more complex modifier like this.

What exactly does 让 mean here? Is it “let” or “make”?

In this sentence, 让 means “to make / to cause”, not “to allow”.

Pattern:

A 让 B + Adj / Verb Phrase = “A makes/causes B to be/do …”

In your sentence:

这家咖啡馆的音乐 (A: the cause)
让 (make/cause)
大家 (B: the affected people)
很放松 (resulting state: very relaxed)

So: “The music in this café makes everyone relaxed.”

Other examples:

这个消息让他很开心。 – This news made him very happy.
天气太热，让我头疼。 – The weather is too hot, it makes my head ache.

Could I use 使 instead of 让? Is there a difference?

You can say:

这家咖啡馆的音乐使大家很放松。

It’s grammatically fine. Differences:

让 – very common in spoken Chinese; neutral, natural.
使 – more formal / written, often in essays, news, academic writing.

Meaning here is the same: “cause/make”. In everyday conversation, 让 is more natural.

Why do we need 很 before 放松? Can I just say 让大家放松?

Both are possible, but they’re a bit different:

让大家很放松
- 很 is a degree adverb and also helps mark 放松 clearly as a state/description.
- Literally “make everyone very relaxed”, but often 很 is not very strong and can be translated just as “(feel) relaxed”.
让大家放松
- More like “let everyone relax” / “help everyone relax” (emphasis on the action of relaxing, not the resulting state).
- Often used when you’re talking about letting someone do the action:
  听音乐可以让大家放松一下。 – Listening to music can let everyone relax a bit.

In your original sentence, the focus is on the resulting state (everyone feels relaxed), so 很放松 is natural.

Is 放松 here a verb (“to relax”) or an adjective (“relaxed”)?

Chinese doesn’t divide these as strictly as English does. 放松 can be:

a verb: 我想放松一下。 – I want to relax a bit.
a stative verb / adjective: 我现在很放松。 – I’m very relaxed now.

In 让大家很放松, it’s working like an adjective, describing a state:

“make everyone (be) very relaxed.”

That’s why it fits the pattern 很 + Adj so nicely.

Who does 大家 refer to? Does it include the speaker?

大家 usually means:

“everybody / everyone present” or “all of us/you/them” depending on context.

In this sentence, it most likely means everyone in the café, and that may or may not include the speaker, depending on context. Common uses:

Among friends or colleagues, a speaker often uses 大家 to include themselves:
- 今天大家都很忙。 – Everyone (including me/us) is very busy today.
Talking more “from the outside” about a group, it can exclude the speaker.

So 让大家很放松 is naturally “makes everyone (here) relaxed” without fixing exactly who that is; context decides.

Why is the word order 这家咖啡馆的音乐让大家很放松? Could I move things around?

The basic structure is:

Subject: 这家咖啡馆的音乐 (the café’s music)
Verb: 让 (make/cause)
Object: 大家 (everyone)
Complement / Description: 很放松 (very relaxed)

So:

Subject + 让 + Object + State

Word orders like these are wrong:

✗ 音乐这家咖啡馆的让大家很放松
✗ 这家咖啡馆让大家的音乐很放松 (this changes the meaning completely)

However, you can expand or add detail while keeping the same core order, e.g.:

在这家咖啡馆放的音乐让大家很放松。
The music played in this café makes everyone relaxed.

But the Subject–让–Object–Complement pattern stays the same.

Can I say 这个咖啡馆 instead of 这家咖啡馆?

这个咖啡馆 is understandable, but 这家咖啡馆 is more natural because:

家 is the usual classifier for shops/restaurants/cafés/companies.
个 is the default, very general classifier and feels less specific here.

Native speakers strongly prefer:

这家咖啡馆 (natural) over
这个咖啡馆 (a bit off / learner-like in this context).

Can I use 咖啡店 instead of 咖啡馆? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

这家咖啡店的音乐让大家很放松。

咖啡馆 vs 咖啡店:

咖啡馆 – often sounds a bit more “café-like”, sometimes slightly more formal or “European-style” in feel.
咖啡店 – more casual, everyday “coffee shop”.

In practice, they often overlap; both are fine here. Classifier 家 works with both:

这家咖啡馆
这家咖啡店

If I really want to emphasize “very relaxed”, is 很 strong enough? How could I make it stronger?

很 can mean “very”, but in everyday speech it’s often not very strong, sometimes just a neutral marker before an adjective.

To emphasize the degree, you can use:

非常放松 – extremely / very relaxed
特别放松 – especially / really relaxed
十分放松 – very relaxed (more written/formal)

Examples:

这家咖啡馆的音乐让大家非常放松。
这家咖啡馆的音乐让大家特别放松。

Both clearly sound stronger than just 很放松.