Vi har fiskesnellen, ikke sant?

Because the main part of the sentence is a normal statement: Vi har fiskesnellen = We have the fishing reel.

Norwegian main clauses usually follow subject + verb order:

• Vi har ... = We have ...

If you say Har vi fiskesnellen?, that becomes a direct yes/no question:

• Har vi fiskesnellen? = Do we have the fishing reel?

So in Vi har fiskesnellen, ikke sant?, the speaker first makes a statement and then adds a tag-like expression to ask for confirmation.

Ikke sant? is a very common Norwegian expression meaning something like:

• right?
• isn’t that right?
• correct?
• don’t we? / isn’t it? depending on context

In this sentence, it works like an English tag question:

• Vi har fiskesnellen, ikke sant?
• We have the fishing reel, right?

A useful thing to know is that Norwegian often uses ikke sant? as a general confirmation tag instead of matching the verb the way English does.

Norwegian can make tag questions in different ways, but ikke sant? is one of the most common and flexible options.

In English, tag questions change depending on the verb:

• We have it, don’t we?
• She is here, isn’t she?
• They left, didn’t they?

In Norwegian, ikke sant? can be used with many different sentence types without changing form. That makes it much simpler.

So instead of building a special tag from the verb, Norwegian often just adds:

• ikke sant?

Fiskesnellen is the definite singular form of fiskesnelle.

Breakdown:

• fiskesnelle = fishing reel
• fiskesnellen = the fishing reel

The ending -en is the definite article attached to the noun. This is very common in Norwegian.

For example:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

So:

• en fiskesnelle = a fishing reel
• fiskesnellen = the fishing reel

Because Norwegian, like English, often forms compound nouns by putting words together into one word.

Here:

• fiske = fishing / fish-
• snelle = reel

Together:

• fiskesnelle = fishing reel

This is very normal in Norwegian. In fact, Norwegian often writes compounds as one word even in places where English uses two words.

In fiskesnelle, fiske- is the first part of a compound noun. You can think of it as giving the meaning fishing- or for fishing.

So even though fiske can also be a verb meaning to fish, in this compound it functions as part of the noun, not as the main verb of the sentence.

The actual verb in the sentence is har.

Har is the present tense of å ha = to have.

So:

• jeg har = I have
• vi har = we have

In this sentence, it simply means have in the present:

• Vi har fiskesnellen = We have the fishing reel

The comma separates the main statement from the tag-like confirmation phrase.

Main statement:

• Vi har fiskesnellen

Added confirmation tag:

• ikke sant?

This is similar to English writing:

• We have the fishing reel, right?

So the comma helps show that ikke sant is an added comment asking the listener to confirm.

Yes. Ikke sant? usually signals that the speaker expects agreement or wants confirmation.

So Vi har fiskesnellen, ikke sant? can suggest:

• the speaker thinks this is true,
• but wants the listener to confirm it.

It is not as neutral as a plain yes/no question like:

• Har vi fiskesnellen? = Do we have the fishing reel?

The version with ikke sant? often sounds more like:

• We do have the fishing reel, right?

It is very common in everyday spoken Norwegian and also appears in informal writing. It is natural and useful, but it is somewhat conversational.

In very formal writing, people may avoid this kind of tag expression. But in normal speech, it is completely standard.

So for a learner, it is definitely worth knowing and using.

Usually not if you mean the fishing reel.

Compare:

• Vi har en fiskesnelle = We have a fishing reel
• Vi har fiskesnellen = We have the fishing reel

Without the definite ending or an article, Vi har fiskesnelle would generally sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Norwegian for this meaning.

So the -n matters because it marks the noun as definite.

You would usually move the verb before the subject:

• Har vi fiskesnellen? = Do we have the fishing reel?

That is the normal yes/no question pattern in Norwegian:

• statement: Vi har fiskesnellen.
• question: Har vi fiskesnellen?

So the original sentence is not just a plain question. It is a statement plus a request for confirmation.