Jag fick ett felmeddelande när jag försökte logga in, men efter en stund gick det att starta appen igen.

Fick is the preterite (simple past) of få, which often means get, receive, or be given.

So Jag fick ett felmeddelande means something like I got / received an error message.

It is used because the sentence describes something that happened at a specific time in the past.

Because felmeddelande is an ett-word (a neuter noun) in Swedish.

Swedish nouns have two grammatical genders:

• en-words
• ett-words

Since felmeddelande is neuter, you say:

• ett felmeddelande = an error message

A useful thing to notice is that many nouns ending in -ande are ett-words, though not absolutely all nouns follow a simple ending rule.

It is a compound noun, which is extremely common in Swedish:

• fel = error, fault, wrong
• meddelande = message

So felmeddelande literally means error message.

Swedish often combines words into one long noun where English would use two separate words.

This means when I tried to log in.

The structure is:

• när = when
• jag försökte = I tried
• logga in = log in

So the clause när jag försökte logga in gives the time context for the first event.

After försöka, Swedish can often use either:

• försöka att göra något
• försöka göra något

In modern Swedish, leaving out att is very common and natural, especially in everyday language.

So both of these are possible:

• jag försökte logga in
• jag försökte att logga in

In this sentence, the version without att sounds very normal.

It is a particle verb: a verb plus a small word that belongs with it.

Here:

• logga in = to log in

Even though it is written as two words, it functions as one unit in meaning.

Examples:

• Jag loggar in = I am logging in / I log in
• Jag loggade in = I logged in
• Jag vill logga in = I want to log in

This is similar to English verbs like log in, turn on, or pick up.

Efter en stund means after a while or after a short time.

Word by word:

• efter = after
• en stund = a while, a short time

Stund is an en-word, which is why it is en stund.

This is a very common Swedish time expression.

Yes, it is a phrase that should not be translated too literally.

Det gick att ... means:

• it was possible to ...
• it worked to ...
• one could ...
• it could be done

So:

• efter en stund gick det att starta appen igen

means something like:

• after a while, it was possible to start the app again

The verb gå here is not really about physical movement. In this kind of expression, it means something more like be possible / work out.

Here det is an impersonal or dummy subject.

It does not refer to a specific object like the app or the error message. Instead, Swedish needs a subject in this kind of sentence, so det fills that role.

Compare English:

• It is possible
• It works
• It seems difficult

That it often does not refer to a real thing either. Swedish det works similarly here.

Because Swedish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb normally comes in the second position.

In this clause, efter en stund comes first. That means the finite verb must come next:

• Efter en stund gick det att starta appen igen

Structure:

1. Efter en stund
2. gick
3. det
4. rest of the clause

This is one of the most important word-order rules in Swedish.

Compare:

• Det gick att starta appen igen efter en stund
• Efter en stund gick det att starta appen igen

Both are possible, but if the time phrase comes first, the verb must still stay in second position.

Appen is the definite form of app:

• en app = an app
• appen = the app

Swedish usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun. Here the ending is -en.

In this sentence, it is appen because the app is understood as a specific one: the app the speaker was trying to use.

Igen means again.

Here it applies to the action starta appen:

• starta appen igen = start the app again

Putting igen near the end is very natural in Swedish. It often comes after the object or after the infinitive phrase it belongs to.

So this word order sounds normal and idiomatic.

Yes, something like efter en stund kunde jag starta appen igen is also possible, but it changes the wording slightly.

Compare:

• det gick att starta appen igen = it was possible to start the app again
• jag kunde starta appen igen = I was able to start the app again

The original sentence is a bit more impersonal and focuses on the fact that the action became possible, rather than strongly focusing on I as the subject.

So both can work, but gick det att has its own natural Swedish feel.

Men means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• first, there was a problem: Jag fick ett felmeddelande när jag försökte logga in
• then, the situation improved: efter en stund gick det att starta appen igen

So men shows the contrast between there was an error and later it worked again.