Min besked kom ikke frem, så jeg ringede til min søster.

Because besked and søster are both common-gender singular nouns in Danish: en besked, en søster. For that pattern, the possessive is min.

A quick guide:

• min = common gender singular
• mit = neuter singular
• mine = plural

So:

• min besked
• min søster but:
• mit hus
• mine venner

Besked usually means message. It is a fairly broad word and can refer to a spoken message, a written message, a text, or a piece of information, depending on context.

Its basic forms are:

• en besked = a message
• beskeden = the message
• beskeder = messages

In this sentence, it most naturally means some kind of message that was sent but did not reach the other person.

Here kom frem means got through, arrived, or reached its destination.

The full expression is at komme frem. Literally, it can mean something like to come forward / to arrive, but with messages, emails, letters, or calls, it often means that something successfully reached the intended person.

So Min besked kom ikke frem means the message did not get through.

Because at komme frem is a verb expression made of a verb plus a particle/adverb, a bit like an English phrasal verb.

The dictionary form is:

• at komme frem

But in a real sentence, the finite verb carries the tense and appears earlier:

• kom ikke frem

So kom is the past-tense verb, and frem stays later in the clause.

In a Danish main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position, and sentence adverbs like ikke usually come after that finite verb.

So:

• Min besked kom ikke frem

This is normal Danish word order.

A useful comparison:

• main clause: Min besked kom ikke frem
• subordinate clause: ... fordi min besked ikke kom frem

In subordinate clauses, ikke usually comes before the finite verb.

Both are in the simple past (also called the preterite).

• kom = past tense of at komme
• ringede = past tense of at ringe

So the sentence describes two completed events in the past:

1. the message did not get through
2. then the speaker called their sister

Also, komme is irregular:

• at komme
• kom
• er kommet

But ringe is regular in the past:

• at ringe
• ringede

Here så means so, and it functions as a coordinating conjunction linking two main clauses.

That means the second clause begins normally:

• så jeg ringede til min søster

The subject jeg comes before the verb because it is starting that new clause.

If så meant then and was acting as the first element inside the clause, you would usually get inversion:

• Så ringede jeg til min søster. = Then I called my sister.

So the word order helps show the difference between så = so and så = then.

Because the usual Danish pattern is at ringe til nogen = to call someone / phone someone.

So:

• Jeg ringede til min søster.

This is the standard, neutral way to say it. English says call someone without a preposition, but Danish normally uses til with ringe.

You may also hear other related expressions, such as ringe nogen op, but ringe til nogen is the basic pattern learners should know first.

Because min already acts as the determiner. In this structure, Danish does not add an article as well.

So you say:

• min søster
• min besked

not:

• en min søster
• en min besked

This works the same way as English:

• my sister not a my sister

Yes. Besked is broad enough that it can absolutely refer to a text or digital message if the context suggests that.

Depending on the situation, en besked might mean:

• a message
• a text
• a note
• a piece of information

So in everyday Danish, Min besked kom ikke frem could easily be understood as My text/message didn’t get through.