Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. In this paper we describe the structure of maximal nontrivial $t$-intersecting families of $k$-dimensional subspaces of $V$ with large size. We also determine the nontrivial $t$-intersecting families with maximum size. In the special case when $t=1$ our result gives rise to the well-known Hilton--Milner theorem for vector spaces.