Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minusta tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa on ihan ihana. - I think this quiet evening with the family is really lovely.

So Minusta tämä hiljainen ilta… on ihan ihana literally feels like “From me, this quiet evening… is really lovely”, but idiomatically it just means “I think this quiet evening… is really lovely.”

Minusta here is not the subject; it’s an “opinion-giver” adverbial. The real subject is tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa.

Could we use Minun mielestäni instead of Minusta? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Minun mielestäni tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa on ihan ihana.

Minun mielestäni literally means “in my opinion” (mieli = mind), and is slightly more explicit or formal than Minusta.

Nuance:

Minusta – very common, neutral, everyday way to say “I think / I find (that)…”
Minun mielestäni – also common, but can sound a bit more explicit or careful, like you’re clearly marking it as your opinion.

In practice, both are fine in this sentence, and the meaning is almost identical.

What is the grammatical case of perheen, and why is it used with kanssa?

Perheen is the genitive singular of perhe (family).

The postposition kanssa (“with”) normally requires the noun in the genitive case before it:

ystävä → ystävän kanssa = with a friend
lapset → lasten kanssa = with (the) children
perhe → perheen kanssa = with (the) family

So perheen kanssa = “with (the) family”. The genitive shows the noun that is in the “with” relationship.

Why is it perheen kanssa and not something like kanssa perhe?

In Finnish, kanssa is a postposition, not a preposition.

That means it usually comes after the noun, and the noun appears in the genitive:

opettajan kanssa = with the teacher
ystävän kanssa = with a friend
perheen kanssa = with the family

Saying kanssa perhe would sound ungrammatical in standard Finnish. The normal order is always [genitive noun] + kanssa.

Why is the verb on and not olen?

On is the 3rd person singular form of olla (“to be”).

The subject of the sentence is tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa (“this quiet evening with the family”), which is a third-person singular thing. So the verb must agree with that:

Tämä ilta on ihana. = This evening is lovely.
Tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa on ihan ihana.

Minusta looks like “I” in English, but grammatically it is not the subject; it just shows whose opinion it is. Therefore we do not use olen here.

Why is it ihana and not ihanaa?

Ihana is in the nominative singular, agreeing with the subject tämä hiljainen ilta (also nominative singular).

In Finnish, when a whole, specific thing is being described with an adjective in a simple “X is Y” structure, both usually appear in the nominative:

Tämä ilta on ihana. = This evening is lovely.
Tuo elokuva on hyvä. = That movie is good.

You would get ihanaa (partitive) in different types of structures, for example:

On ihanaa olla kotona. = It’s wonderful to be at home.
(Here there is no concrete nominative subject; ihana(a) behaves more like an impersonal predicate.)

In your sentence, because tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa is a concrete, complete subject, the adjective matches it in nominative: ihana, not ihanaa.

What does ihan add to the meaning? Could we leave it out?

Ihan is an intensifier here. Before adjectives, it often means something like:

really, quite, totally, so

So:

ihana = lovely
ihan ihana = really / totally lovely, so lovely

If you leave it out:

… on ihana = “… is lovely”
… on ihan ihana = “… is really/so lovely”

Grammatically, ihan is not necessary; it just strengthens the emotional tone.

Can we omit tämä and say Minusta hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa on ihan ihana?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Minusta hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa on ihan ihana.

The nuance changes slightly:

With tämä, you are usually talking about this particular evening (for example, tonight).
Without tämä, it sounds a bit more general, like “A quiet evening with the family is really lovely” as a general statement about what you like.

Both are natural; which one you choose depends on whether you mean this specific evening or quiet evenings with the family in general.

How does hiljainen ilta work grammatically? Do adjectives always come before nouns like this?

Yes. In Finnish, the normal order is adjective + noun, just like in English:

hiljainen ilta = quiet evening
iso talo = big house
pitkä kirja = long book

The adjective agrees with the noun in case and number:

hiljainen ilta (nominative singular)
hiljaisen illan (genitive singular)
hiljaiset illat (nominative plural), etc.

In your sentence, hiljainen ilta is nominative singular, matching tämä and functioning as the core of the subject phrase.

What is the basic grammatical structure of the whole sentence?

You can divide it like this:

Minusta – adverbial of opinion (“in my opinion / I think”)
tämä hiljainen ilta perheen kanssa – subject (“this quiet evening with the family”)
on – verb “to be”, 3rd person singular
ihan ihana – predicative adjective phrase (“really lovely”), describing the subject

So structurally it is:

[Opinion-giver] + [Subject] + [Verb] + [Description of subject]

Meaning: “In my opinion, this quiet evening with the family is really lovely.”