Skjønner du? Vi stikker vel snart.

Skjønner means understand / get it. In Skjønner du?, it means Do you understand? or Do you get it?

It is very close in meaning to forstår. The main difference is tone:

• skjønne often feels a bit more everyday and conversational
• forstå can feel slightly more neutral or formal

So:

• Skjønner du? = Do you get it? / Do you understand?
• Forstår du? = Do you understand?

Both are very common.

Norwegian usually uses verb-first word order in yes/no questions.

So:

• Du skjønner. = You understand.
• Skjønner du? = Do you understand?

This is similar to English switching word order:

• You understand.
• Do you understand?

Norwegian does not need do here; it just moves the verb before the subject.

Norwegian often leaves out it when English would include it, especially in short conversational questions.

So:

• Skjønner du? literally looks like Understand you?
• But naturally it means Do you understand? / Do you get it?

If you want, you can also say:

• Skjønner du det? = Do you understand it?

Adding det makes the object more explicit, but in many everyday situations it is not necessary.

Here stikker comes from å stikke, which literally has several meanings, but in everyday speech one very common meaning is:

• to leave
• to head off
• to get going

So Vi stikker snart means something like:

• We’re leaving soon
• We’ll head off soon
• We’re going soon

This is a fairly informal, spoken way to say it.

Yes. Å stikke is very common in casual speech when talking about leaving.

For example:

• Jeg stikker nå. = I’m leaving now.
• Skal vi stikke? = Shall we go? / Shall we head off?

Compared with some other verbs:

• å dra = very common, general to go / leave
• å gå = to go / walk, depending on context
• å reise = to travel, or leave on a trip
• å stikke = more colloquial, often head off / get out / leave

So Vi stikker vel snart sounds natural and conversational.

Norwegian often uses the present tense for future meaning, especially when the context already makes the time clear.

So:

• Vi stikker snart. = We’re leaving soon
• literally: We leave soon

This is very normal in Norwegian, just as in English you can say:

• We’re leaving soon
• I’m going tomorrow

The word snart already shows that the action is in the near future, so a separate future form is not necessary.

Vel is a very common little word in Norwegian, but it can be hard to translate directly.

In Vi stikker vel snart, vel adds a feeling like:

• I suppose
• probably
• I guess
• I assume
• sometimes a softening tone, as if the speaker expects agreement

So the sentence can feel like:

• We’ll probably leave soon.
• I guess we’re leaving soon.
• We’re leaving soon, I suppose.

It is not usually the main meaning of the sentence, but it changes the tone.

Usually yes, but only slightly. It often suggests that the speaker is not presenting the statement as a hard fact.

Compare:

• Vi stikker snart. = We’re leaving soon.
• Vi stikker vel snart. = We’ll probably leave soon / I suppose we’re leaving soon.

With vel, the speaker may be:

• guessing a little
• softening the statement
• checking shared expectation
• sounding less direct

In conversation, vel is extremely common and often quite subtle.

In a main clause, vel often comes after the verb, or after the subject if the verb is in second position.

Here the structure is:

• Vi = subject
• stikker = verb
• vel = particle/adverb
• snart = time adverb

So:

• Vi stikker vel snart.

This placement sounds natural. Small words like vel often sit in the middle of the sentence rather than at the end.

A more neutral version might be:

• Forstår du? Vi drar vel snart.

Differences:

• forstår is a bit more neutral/formal than skjønner
• drar is a very common neutral verb for leave/go

The original sentence:

• Skjønner du? Vi stikker vel snart.

sounds more conversational and everyday.

The beginning skj- is one of the harder Norwegian sounds for English speakers. In many dialects, skj, sj, and sometimes sk before certain vowels sound roughly like sh in English.

So skjønner is approximately like:

• SHUN-er or SHYUN-er, depending on accent and how detailed you want to be

A few notes:

• ø does not exist in English, so learners often need practice with it
• the r in skjønner is often light in many dialects
• pronunciation varies by region

For a beginner, aiming for an sh-like start is a good first step.

Yes. Depending on tone and context, natural English versions could include:

• We’re leaving soon, I guess.
• We’ll probably leave soon.
• I suppose we’re heading off soon.
• We’ll be going soon, right?
• We’re probably off soon.

The exact English translation depends on how you want to reflect vel, since vel often carries a tone that does not match perfectly with one single English word.