Hun fik en underlig besked fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte.

Fik is the normal past tense of at få (to get / receive) in modern Danish.

• at få = to get, receive
• får = gets / is getting
• fik = got / received
• har fået = has gotten / has received

So:

• Hun fik en besked = She got/received a message

You may sometimes see learners expect a form like fåede, but fik is the standard past form.

Here, fik means received or got.

So Hun fik en underlig besked is literally:

• Hun = she
• fik = got / received
• en underlig besked = a strange message

In this context, English got and received both work well, but received may sound slightly more natural in explanation.

Because besked is a common gender noun in Danish, so it takes en, not et.

• en besked = a message
• beskeden = the message

The adjective must agree with the noun form being used:

• common gender singular indefinite: en underlig besked
• neuter singular indefinite: et underligt ...
• plural / definite forms usually: underlige

So the adjective stays underlig here because besked is an en-word.

Because Danish nouns have grammatical gender, and different nouns belong to different gender classes.

• en besked = a message
• et nummer = a number

So in the sentence:

• en underlig besked
• fra et nummer

you simply have to learn each noun with its article.

This is one of the most important habits in Danish: learn nouns as en-word or et-word from the start.

In this sentence, et nummer almost certainly means a phone number.

So:

• fra et nummer = from a number
• natural English meaning: from a phone number

Danish often leaves out telefon- when the context makes it obvious. A text message naturally comes from a phone number, so nummer is enough.

Because hun ikke kendte is a subordinate clause giving extra information about et nummer.

It means:

• fra et nummer = from a number
• hun ikke kendte = that she did not know / that she didn’t recognize

In standard Danish spelling, subordinate clauses are separated by a comma.

So the comma marks the start of the clause connected to nummer.

Danish often leaves out the relative word that English would use.

English:

• from a number that she didn’t know
• from a number she didn’t know

Danish:

• fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte

The relative pronoun som could appear in some contexts, but after a noun like this Danish very often just goes straight into the clause without adding an explicit that/which/who word.

So this is very natural Danish.

Yes, that is possible, but fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte is very natural and idiomatic.

A learner should know this:

• fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte = very natural
• fra et nummer som hun ikke kendte = possible, but often less streamlined here

Danish commonly omits the relative word when it is not needed.

Because in a subordinate clause, Danish word order changes.

Main clause word order:

• Hun kendte ikke nummeret = She did not know the number

Subordinate clause word order:

• ... et nummer, hun ikke kendte = ... a number she did not know

So in subordinate clauses, ikke usually comes before the finite verb:

• hun ikke kendte
• fordi hun ikke kendte det
• som hun ikke forstod

This is a very important Danish pattern.

At kende means to know / be familiar with / recognize, usually for people, places, or things.

Here it means she did not know / did not recognize the number.

Compare:

• at kende = to know, be familiar with
• at vide = to know a fact

Examples:

• Jeg kender hende. = I know her.
• Jeg kender nummeret. = I know/recognize the number.
• Jeg ved, hvem hun er. = I know who she is.
  (fact/information)

So kendte is the correct verb because it is about familiarity/recognition, not factual knowledge.

Because the whole sentence is describing a past situation.

Main event:

• Hun fik = She received / got

At that time, the number was unknown to her:

• hun ikke kendte = she did not know / recognize

English might also say:

• She got a strange message from a number she didn’t know
• ... from a number she didn’t recognize

So the past tense in both parts matches the past-time context.

Yes, depending on context, that can be a very good translation.

• hun ikke kendte can mean:
  • she didn’t know
  • she didn’t recognize

With phone numbers, English often prefers didn’t recognize because it sounds more natural than literally didn’t know a number.

So a very natural English rendering is:

• She got a strange message from a number she didn’t recognize.

Underlig can mean strange, odd, or weird, depending on tone and context.

In this sentence:

• en underlig besked = a strange / odd / weird message

Strange is often the safest neutral translation. Weird is a bit stronger and more informal.

So if you are learning, it is good to remember:

• underlig = strange, odd, weird

Not always. Besked means message, and the exact type depends on context.

It can be:

• a text message
• a message passed on by someone
• a written message
• a voicemail/message in a broader sense

In this sentence, because of fra et nummer (from a number), many readers will naturally think of a text message or similar phone message.

So besked itself is broad, but the context makes it feel phone-related.

The sentence can be divided like this:

• Hun = subject
• fik = verb
• en underlig besked = object
• fra et nummer = prepositional phrase
• hun ikke kendte = subordinate clause describing nummer

So the structure is:

Hun fik en underlig besked fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte.

You can think of it as:

She received [a strange message] [from a number [she didn’t know]].

The last clause attaches to nummer, not to besked.

Yes, but it would change the meaning.

Current sentence:

• fra et nummer, hun ikke kendte = from a number she didn’t know

If you said:

• fra nummeret, hun ikke kendte that would sound much less natural in this context, because it suggests a specific number already identified in the conversation.

Using et nummer is the normal choice when introducing it for the first time.

So the indefinite form fits the meaning best here.