Learn Finnish: Viimevuotiseen kysyntään verrattuna markkinat ovat nyt paremmat. - Compared to last year's demand, the markets are now better.

The word verrattuna (compared to) requires the thing you are comparing something to to be in the illative case. The main noun is kysyntä (demand), which becomes kysyntään, and the adjective modifying it must agree with it, changing from viimevuotinen to viimevuotiseen.

How is the adjective viimevuotinen (last year's) formed?

It is built from the phrase viime vuosi (last year) by adding the common adjective suffix -inen. When you add this suffix, the root word vuosi changes its stem to vuot-, giving us viimevuotinen. This allows you to use a time phrase as a direct modifier for a noun.

Why is markkinat (markets) plural, and how does it affect the rest of the sentence?

When talking about the economy or business, "the market" is almost always expressed as a plural word in Finnish (markkinat), even when English uses the singular. Because the subject is plural, the verb is plural (ovat), and the comparative adjective must also be in its plural form (paremmat instead of the singular parempi).

Could verrattuna be placed before the noun phrase instead of after it?