Learn Finnish: Suomessa suunniteltu tuote on kaunis. - A product designed in Finland is beautiful.

In Finnish, when a participle like suunniteltu (designed) acts as an adjective describing a noun, any words that modify that action like where it happened (Suomessa) must go strictly before the participle. You have to sandwich the location before the participle, creating a phrase that literally translates to 'an in-Finland designed product'.

What verb form is suunniteltu, and how is it being used here?

It is the passive past participle (often called the TU-participle) of the verb suunnitella (to design). While you usually see this form in passive past sentences like 'se suunniteltiin' (it was designed), here it is used as an adjective. It describes the noun tuote by stating what action was done to it.

If the sentence was 'I bought a product designed in Finland,' would the phrase Suomessa suunniteltu change?

Yes and no. The participle acts like an adjective, so it must match the case of the noun. If you say 'I bought a product,' the product becomes the object: tuotteen. The participle must match it: suunnitellun. However, Suomessa remains unchanged because it modifies the designing, not the product itself. The phrase becomes Suomessa suunnitellun tuotteen.

Why don't we use the agent participle here, like suunnittelema?