Minusta lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.

to be

Breakdown of Minusta lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.

• illalla: in the evening
• rentouttava: relaxing
• minusta: I think

Questions & Answers about Minusta lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.

What does minusta literally mean, and why isn’t it just minä?

Minusta is not a separate word; it is a case form of minä (“I”).

• minä = I (nominative)
• minusta = from me (elative case)

In this type of sentence, minusta X on Y is an idiomatic pattern meaning:

• Minusta lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.
  ≈ “In my opinion, reading in the evening is relaxing.” / “I find reading in the evening relaxing.”

So here minusta does not really mean physical movement “from me”; it marks whose opinion or feeling is being expressed. The same pattern works with other persons:

• Sinusta tämä on tylsää. – “You think this is boring.”
• Heistä elokuvat ovat kiinnostavia. – “They think movies are interesting.”

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What’s the difference between minusta and minun mielestäni?

Both mean almost exactly the same: “in my opinion”.

• Minusta lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.
• Minun mielestäni lukeminen illalla on rentouttavaa.

Nuance:

• minusta – shorter, very common in everyday speech and writing.
• minun mielestäni – a bit longer and slightly more explicit/emphatic (“in my view / in my mind”), sometimes felt a little more formal or careful, but still perfectly normal in casual speech.

In most contexts you can freely choose either one.

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Why is it lukeminen and not the verb lukea?