Learn Finnish: Luimme pykälän, joten tiedämme sopimussakosta. - We read the clause, so we know about the contractual penalty.

The genitive-accusative ending -n makes it a total object. This shows that the action was fully completed: "we read the (entire) clause." If you used the partitive pykälää, it would mean the reading was incomplete or ongoing ("we were reading the clause").

Why is sopimussakko in the elative case (sopimussakosta)?

The verb tietää (to know) requires the elative case (-sta/-stä) when you are expressing knowing about something. Tiedämme sopimussakosta translates directly to "we know about the contractual penalty."

How does the conjunction joten differ from koska or jotta?

Joten means "so" or "therefore," introducing a direct consequence. Koska means "because" (introducing the reason itself), and jotta means "so that" or "in order to" (introducing an intended purpose). Here, knowing about the penalty is the natural consequence of reading the clause, making joten the correct choice.

What makes up the compound word sopimussakko?

It combines sopimus (contract or agreement) and sakko (fine or penalty). In Finnish legal and business contexts, a sopimussakko refers to a contractual penalty or a liquidated damages fine.