Suunniteltaessa

Suunniteltaessa is a Finnish grammatical form derived from the verb suunnitella, meaning to plan. It functions as a passive present participle and is used to express a circumstance in which planning is taking place. In English, it is commonly rendered as “in planning” or “when planning,” and it introduces subordinate clauses that describe conditions or considerations relevant to the main clause.

Formation and usage notes: Suunniteltaessa forms a circumstantial clause that describes concurrent action related to the verb of the main clause. Because the form is passive, the agent carrying out the planning is often unspecified, which makes the construction common in formal, technical, or official text such as project plans, regulations, or analysis reports. The form can appear at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence, linking to the main clause without a separate conjunction in many contexts.

Examples:

- Suunniteltaessa hanketta on tärkeää huomioida kustannukset. (When planning the project, it is important to consider costs.)

- Suunniteltaessa uusia tiloja on otettava huomioon esteettömyys. (In planning new facilities, accessibility must be taken into account.)

- Suunniteltaessa ohjelmistoa on määriteltävä vaatimukset. (When planning the software, requirements must be defined.)

Related forms: Suunniteltaessa is distinct from active participles such as suunnittelemalla, which express the subject actively performing the planning, and from other participial forms that describe different aspects of the action. The use of suunniteltaessa tends to appear in more formal or technical prose, where circumstantial clauses are common.