Minusta kemia on vaikeaa.

to be

Breakdown of Minusta kemia on vaikeaa.

• vaikea: difficult
• minusta: I think
• kemia: the chemistry

Questions & Answers about Minusta kemia on vaikeaa.

What does minusta literally mean, and why is it used here?

Minusta is the elative case of minä (I). Literally it means “from me”.

In this sentence, minusta is an idiomatic way to express a personal opinion:

• Minusta kemia on vaikeaa.
  → From me / in my view, chemistry is difficult → I think chemistry is difficult.

So Finnish doesn’t use a verb like “think” here; instead it uses a case form of minä to mark whose opinion it is.

Why minusta and not minä or minun?

• Minä is the basic nominative form and would normally be a subject.
  But in this sentence, the subject is kemia (chemistry), not I.

• Minusta (elative, “from me”) marks the experiencer / source of opinion.
  This is a common pattern in Finnish: you put the “experiencer” into some case (here elative) rather than making it the subject.

Compare:

• Minusta kemia on vaikeaa. – In my opinion, chemistry is difficult.
• Minun mielestäni kemia on vaikeaa. – In my opinion, chemistry is difficult.
  Here minun is genitive because it’s part of the phrase minun mielestäni (in my opinion), which behaves like a noun phrase (“my opinion”).

So minusta alone is a fixed, very common way to say “I think / in my view”.

Is minusta the same as “I think” in English?