Jeg forstår overhovedet ikke, hvorfor hendes besked åbenbart kom frem så sent.

Overhovedet ikke means not at all, absolutely not, or in any way whatsoever.

So:

• Jeg forstår ikke = I don’t understand
• Jeg forstår overhovedet ikke = I don’t understand at all

It strengthens the negation and makes the sentence more emphatic.

Both are possible, but they do different things in tone:

• Jeg forstår ikke ... = neutral
• Jeg forstår overhovedet ikke ... = much stronger, more like I really don’t understand at all ...

A native English speaker can think of overhovedet as an intensifier used with negatives.

Because hvorfor means why, and it introduces an indirect question.

• Jeg forstår, hvorfor ... = I understand why ...
• Jeg forstår ikke, hvorfor ... = I don’t understand why ...

You would not normally use at here, because at means that, not why.

Compare:

• Jeg ved, at hun skrev = I know that she wrote
• Jeg ved, hvorfor hun skrev = I know why she wrote

This is because the part after hvorfor is a subordinate clause, and Danish word order changes in subordinate clauses.

In a main clause, Danish usually has verb-second word order:

• Hendes besked kom åbenbart frem så sent

But after a subordinating word like hvorfor, the clause is no longer a main clause, so adverbs like åbenbart usually come before the finite verb:

• ... hvorfor hendes besked åbenbart kom frem så sent

A useful rule:

• main clause: subject + verb + adverb
• subordinate clause: subject + adverb + verb

Hendes means her.

It is used because the owner of the message is some other female person, not the subject jeg.

• hendes besked = her message

Danish uses sin/sit/sine when the possessor refers back to the subject of the clause.

Examples:

• Hun læste sin besked. = She read her own message.
• Hun læste hendes besked. = She read another woman’s message.

In your sentence, the main subject is jeg, so sin would not fit.

Besked usually means message.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• a text message
• an email/message
• a verbal message
• a notice

In this sentence, hendes besked kom frem så sent strongly suggests a message that was sent but only reached the recipient later than expected.

Åbenbart usually means apparently, evidently, or it seems.

In this sentence it suggests that, based on what the speaker has learned, the message seems to have arrived late.

So åbenbart adds a sense like:

• apparently
• as it turns out
• it seems that

It does not necessarily mean the speaker is fully certain; it often signals reported information or inference.

Kom frem is the past tense of komme frem, and here it means something like:

• arrived
• got through
• was delivered
• reached its destination

With messages, calls, emails, and similar things, komme frem often means that the message successfully reached the other person.

So:

• Beskeden kom frem = The message got through / was delivered

This is a very common expression in Danish.

Because frem changes the meaning.

• kom alone just means came
• kom frem means came through, arrived, or reached the intended place/person

In Danish, small particles like frem, op, ud, ind often form fixed verb expressions with meanings that are not exactly the same as the basic verb alone.

Så sent means so late.

• sent = late
• så sent = so late

It works the same way as English:

• Why did it arrive late?
• Why did it arrive so late?

Here så intensifies sent.

Yes, but its position affects how natural the sentence sounds.

The given version:

• ... kom frem så sent

is very natural.

You may also sometimes hear variations depending on emphasis, but kom frem så sent is the standard, smooth phrasing here.

With verb-particle expressions like kom frem, Danish often keeps the particle close to the verb, and then puts time/manner expressions like så sent after that.

They are very close, and both can mean I really don’t understand at all.

Very roughly:

• slet ikke = very common emphatic not at all
• overhovedet ikke = also emphatic, sometimes felt as slightly stronger or more absolute

In many everyday situations, they are interchangeable.

Examples:

• Jeg forstår slet ikke, hvorfor ...
• Jeg forstår overhovedet ikke, hvorfor ...

Both are natural Danish.

Partly.

• Jeg forstår is present tense = I understand / I am understanding
• kom frem is past tense = came through / arrived

So the speaker is talking now about something they do not understand, and the thing they do not understand is a past event: why the message arrived late.

It breaks down like this:

• Jeg = I
• forstår = understand
• overhovedet ikke = not at all
• hvorfor = why
• hendes besked = her message
• åbenbart = apparently
• kom frem = got through / arrived
• så sent = so late

So the structure is:

main clause

• Jeg forstår overhovedet ikke

plus

subordinate clause / indirect question

• hvorfor hendes besked åbenbart kom frem så sent

Both can work, depending on context.

• arrived is broad and neutral
• got through is often especially good for messages, calls, emails, or texts
• was delivered is also possible if you want to stress successful delivery

So if the context is a text or email, got through or was delivered may feel especially natural. If the context is less specific, arrived is fine.