Hun havde svært ved at bruge læsefeltet.

Hun means she.

It is the subject of the sentence, just like she in English:

• Hun havde svært ved at bruge læsefeltet. = She had difficulty using the reading field/text box.

A learner should also notice that hun is only used for she. Danish also has han for he.

Havde is the past tense of have.

So:

• have = to have
• har = has / have (present tense)
• havde = had (past tense)

In this sentence, havde tells you the difficulty happened in the past:

• Hun havde svært ved at bruge læsefeltet. = She had difficulty using the reading field.

If you wanted present tense, you would say:

• Hun har svært ved at bruge læsefeltet. = She has difficulty using the reading field.

Yes. Have svært ved at + infinitive is a very common Danish expression.

It means:

• to have difficulty doing something
• to find it hard to do something

So the pattern is:

• have svært ved at + verb

Examples:

• Jeg har svært ved at forstå det. = I have difficulty understanding it.
• De havde svært ved at finde huset. = They had difficulty finding the house.

In your sentence:

• havde svært ved at bruge = had difficulty using

You should learn this as a chunk, because it does not translate word-for-word very naturally into English.

Because the expression requires them.

The structure is:

• have svært ved at + infinitive

Here:

• svært ved = difficulty with
• at bruge = to use

So:

• Hun havde svært ved at bruge læsefeltet.

A literal breakdown would be something like:

• She had difficulty with to use the reading field

That sounds unnatural in English, but it helps show the Danish structure.

So even though English would usually say had difficulty using, Danish normally says havde svært ved at bruge.

Svær is the basic form of the adjective, meaning difficult or hard.

Svært is the neuter form, and it is also the form often used in expressions like this:

• Det er svært. = It is difficult.
• Hun har svært ved at læse. = She has difficulty reading.

In this sentence, svært is not directly describing a noun. It is part of the fixed expression have svært ved at. So you should memorize the expression with svært.

Bruge means to use.

It is the infinitive form, which is why it appears after at:

• at bruge = to use

Examples:

• Jeg bruger computeren. = I use the computer.
• Hun vil bruge den senere. = She wants to use it later.
• at bruge = to use

In your sentence, it tells you what she had difficulty doing:

• ... ved at bruge læsefeltet = ... using the reading field / text box

Læsefeltet is a compound noun:

• læse = read / reading
• felt = field
• -et = the definite ending for a neuter noun

So læsefeltet literally means the reading field.

Depending on context, it could refer to something like:

• a reading area
• a text field
• a reading pane
• some other interface element related to reading

The exact English translation depends on the situation, but grammatically the important point is that it is one compound noun in Danish.

Because Danish usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

Compare:

• et læsefelt = a reading field
• læsefeltet = the reading field

This is very different from English, where the comes before the noun.

A few more examples:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car
• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

Since felt is a neuter noun (et felt), the definite ending is -et:

• feltet = the field
• læsefeltet = the reading field

Yes. Danish very often combines nouns into a single word.

So instead of writing something like læse felt, Danish normally writes:

• læsefelt

This is very common and important for learners.

Examples:

• skolebog = schoolbook
• toiletdør = toilet door
• sommerferie = summer holiday

Then the definite ending gets added to the whole compound:

• læsefelt = reading field
• læsefeltet = the reading field

The sentence has normal Danish main-clause word order:

• Hun = subject
• havde = finite verb
• svært ved at bruge læsefeltet = rest of the sentence

So the pattern is:

• Subject + verb + rest

This is straightforward because the sentence begins with the subject.

If another element came first, Danish would still keep the verb in second position. For example:

• I går havde hun svært ved at bruge læsefeltet. = Yesterday she had difficulty using the reading field.

Notice that havde still comes early in the sentence.

Yes. That is also natural Danish.

Compare:

• Hun havde svært ved at bruge læsefeltet.
• Hun havde problemer med at bruge læsefeltet.

Both mean something like:

• She had difficulty using the reading field.

There is a slight difference in feel:

• have svært ved at often focuses on something being hard for someone
• have problemer med at can sound a bit more like there were specific problems or trouble

In many contexts, though, they are quite close.

You would change havde to har:

• Hun har svært ved at bruge læsefeltet.

That means:

• She has difficulty using the reading field.
• She is having trouble using the reading field.

So the only change is the tense of have:

• havde = had
• har = has

Æ is a separate Danish vowel, not just a decorative spelling.

In læse, the æ is pronounced somewhat like the vowel in English cat, but the exact sound is Danish and not identical to English.

So:

• læse = to read
• læsefeltet = the reading field

For an English speaker, the important thing is:

• æ is common in Danish
• it changes pronunciation
• it is treated as its own letter

So læse is not pronounced like English lase or lease.

Yes, that is the best approach.

If you try to build it word by word every time, it may feel confusing. But if you memorize:

• have svært ved at + verb

as one useful pattern, it becomes much easier.

Very useful examples:

• Jeg har svært ved at høre dig. = I have difficulty hearing you.
• Vi havde svært ved at finde vej. = We had difficulty finding the way.
• Han har svært ved at sove. = He has difficulty sleeping.

So your sentence is a perfect model for a very common Danish structure.