Jag ringde för att säga grattis, men hon svarade inte förrän på kvällen.

Ringde is the past tense of ringa, which means to call or to phone.

• ringa = to call
• ringer = call / am calling
• ringde = called
• har ringt = have called

So Jag ringde means I called.

This is a very common verb in everyday Swedish when talking about phone calls.

För att often means in order to or to, when it introduces a purpose.

So:

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis
  = I called to say congratulations = I called in order to say congratulations

In English, we often just say to say congratulations, and Swedish does the same with för att + infinitive.

You will often see this pattern:

• Jag gick dit för att hjälpa henne = I went there to help her
• Han sparar pengar för att köpa en bil = He is saving money to buy a car

Usually, in this sentence, för att is the natural choice because it clearly expresses purpose.

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis = I called in order to say congratulations

If you remove för, the sentence would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Swedish in this context.

So for purpose, learners should generally use:

• verb + för att + infinitive

In Swedish, grattis is a very common fixed word used when congratulating someone. The expression säga grattis literally means say congratulations.

Examples:

• Jag ville säga grattis = I wanted to say congratulations
• Vi sa grattis till henne = We congratulated her / We said congratulations to her

You can also use the verb gratulera:

• Jag ringde för att gratulera henne = I called to congratulate her

But in everyday spoken Swedish, säga grattis is extremely common and natural.

Because Swedish can leave it understood from context.

In this sentence:

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis, men hon svarade inte ...

it is already clear that hon is the person being congratulated, so Swedish does not need to add till henne.

You could say:

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis till henne

but it is less necessary here because the sentence already makes the situation obvious.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The verb is svara:

• svara = to answer / reply
• svarade = answered / replied

In this sentence, because the first part is about a phone call, hon svarade inte most naturally means:

• she didn’t answer
• more specifically, she didn’t answer the phone

So the phone context tells you how to understand it.

In a normal Swedish main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. This is the famous V2 word order.

So:

• hon = subject
• svarade = finite verb
• inte = negation

That gives:

• Hon svarade inte

This is the normal Swedish order for a main clause:

• Jag kommer inte
• Han såg mig inte
• Vi bor inte där

English speakers often want to place inte before the verb, but in main clauses Swedish usually puts it after the finite verb.

Förrän means until in negative contexts, especially in the pattern:

• inte förrän = not until

So:

• hon svarade inte förrän på kvällen = she didn’t answer until the evening

This is a very common Swedish expression.

More examples:

• Jag åt inte förrän klockan nio = I didn’t eat until nine
• Han kom inte förrän igår = He didn’t come until yesterday

Very often, yes, when the meaning is not until.

In this sentence:

• hon svarade inte förrän på kvällen

the inte + förrän combination works together to mean didn’t ... until ...

This is the pattern learners should remember:

• inte förrän = not until

There are also other uses of förrän, especially in more formal or older-style language, but for most learners, the key thing is to recognize and use inte förrän.

Because Swedish normally uses på with parts of the day in expressions like this:

• på morgonen = in the morning
• på dagen = in the daytime / during the day
• på eftermiddagen = in the afternoon
• på kvällen = in the evening
• på natten = at night / in the night

So på kvällen is the normal idiomatic Swedish expression.

English and Swedish often use different prepositions for time, so this is something you usually just have to learn as a set phrase.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In this sentence, på kvällen most naturally means:

• in the evening
• or more specifically, not until that evening

Because the sentence is in the past and refers to one specific call, English might naturally translate it as:

• but she didn’t answer until that evening

So the Swedish phrase itself is på kvällen, and context tells you whether English should be in the evening or that evening.

Because men means but, and it joins two main clauses:

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis
• hon svarade inte förrän på kvällen

In Swedish, it is normal to use a comma before men when it connects two full clauses.

So the punctuation here is standard and natural.

Yes, some parts can move, but the verb-second rule still applies in main clauses.

For example:

• På kvällen svarade hon inte förrän would be wrong in meaning and awkward
• Hon svarade inte förrän på kvällen is the natural version

You could move some elements for emphasis in other sentences, but here the original order is the most straightforward and idiomatic.

A useful lesson is that Swedish word order is often more fixed than English learners expect, especially with:

• the finite verb in second position
• inte after the finite verb in main clauses

Yes, absolutely.

• Jag ringde för att säga grattis = I called to say congratulations
• Jag ringde för att gratulera henne = I called to congratulate her

Both are correct, but they feel slightly different:

• säga grattis is very common, conversational, and everyday
• gratulera is a little more formal or at least a more direct verb choice

In normal spoken Swedish, säga grattis is extremely common.

In Swedish, just like in English, you can sometimes leave that out if it is obvious or unimportant.

• Jag ringde = I called
• Jag ringde henne = I called her

In this sentence, the important point is the purpose of the call and the fact that she did not answer, so Swedish does not need to say explicitly henne after ringde.

The person called is understood from the rest of the sentence.