Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon behöver hjälp när jag inte påminner henne i tid. - She needs help when I do not remind her in time.

Hon behöver hjälp … → Hon is the subject of behöver (“She needs …”)
… när jag inte påminner henne i tid. → henne is the object of påminner (“remind her”)

This is the same pattern as in English:

She needs help when I don’t remind her in time.

What exactly does behöver mean, and why is there no att after it?

behöver is the present tense of behöva = to need.

In Swedish, behöva often behaves a bit like a modal verb (similar to must, can, should). When it’s followed by a noun, you just put the noun directly after it:

Hon behöver hjälp. – She needs help.

If it’s followed by another verb, you normally use the infinitive without att:

Jag behöver gå. – I need to go.
Hon behöver sova. – She needs to sleep.

So you don’t say behöver att gå in standard Swedish; you say behöver gå.
In your sentence it’s followed by a noun (hjälp), so there is no att anyway.

Why is there no article before hjälp? Why not en hjälp?

hjälp is used as an uncountable (mass) noun here, just like help in English in this meaning.

Hon behöver hjälp. – She needs help.
(Not: She needs a help.)

You would only see en hjälp in special, more concrete meanings, e.g.:

en hjälp = a helper, an assistant (in some dialectal or older uses)
vara till hjälp = to be of help (fixed expression; still no article in that phrase)

But when you mean general assistance, you say simply hjälp, with no article.

Could you also say hjälpa instead of hjälp here?

No, not with the same meaning.

hjälp = help (noun)
hjälpa = to help (verb, infinitive)

In your sentence:

Hon behöver hjälp … = She needs help … (needs assistance herself)

If you said:

Hon behöver hjälpa … = She needs to help … (she needs to help someone else)

That changes the meaning completely: from “she needs help” to “she needs to help.” So for “needs help,” you must use the noun: behöver hjälp.

What does när mean here? Is it “when” or more like “if / whenever”?

när is most often translated as when, but in Swedish it can also have a habitual/conditional feel, like whenever / every time in English.

In this sentence:

Hon behöver hjälp när jag inte påminner henne i tid.

The meaning can be understood as:

She needs help when I don’t remind her in time.
or, more naturally:
She needs help whenever I don’t remind her in time.

So när here expresses a repeated situation / condition, not a single one-off moment. Context decides whether you understand it as when or whenever.

Why is the negation inte placed before påminner in när jag inte påminner henne i tid?

This is about Swedish word order rules in subordinate clauses (clauses introduced by words like när, att, om, etc.).

In a subordinate clause, the basic order is:

subject – (sentence adverbials like inte) – verb

So:

jag inte påminner
subject (jag) – negation (inte) – verb (påminner)

Compare that with a main clause:

verb – subject – (sentence adverbials) …

Jag påminner henne inte i tid.
verb (påminner) – subject (jag, implied by the verb form) – inte

So:

Main clause: Jag påminner henne inte i tid.
Subordinate clause: … när jag inte påminner henne i tid.

The position of inte is different because of the main-clause vs subordinate-clause word order patterns.

How does the word order change if I start the sentence with the när-clause?

If you move the när-clause to the front, Swedish follows the V2 rule in the main clause: the finite verb must be in second position.

Original:

Hon behöver hjälp när jag inte påminner henne i tid.

With the när-clause first:

När jag inte påminner henne i tid behöver hon hjälp.

Structure:

När jag inte påminner henne i tid (entire subordinate clause = first element)
behöver (finite verb of the main clause = must come second)
hon (subject of the main clause)
hjälp (object)

Both versions are correct; the choice is mostly about emphasis and flow.

What does i tid mean exactly? Is it the same as “on time” or “in time”?

i tid literally means “in time”, but it often corresponds to English “on time” as well, depending on context.

In this sentence:

… när jag inte påminner henne i tid.
= … when I don’t remind her in time / on time.

You use i tid when something is done early enough to avoid a problem or to meet a deadline.

Some contrasts:

Jag kom i tid till mötet. – I arrived on time for the meeting.
Jag kom för sent till mötet. – I arrived too late for the meeting.

So i tid = early enough / not too late.

Why is the present tense (behöver, påminner) used, even though we might translate it with “whenever” and think of repeated or even future situations?

Swedish present tense is used very broadly. It can express:

current actions
general truths
habitual actions
scheduled / future events

In your sentence:

Hon behöver hjälp när jag inte påminner henne i tid.

This is about a general, repeated situation, a habit / pattern in her behavior. Swedish uses the present tense for that, just like English does in:

She needs help when I don’t remind her in time.
She gets stressed when I’m late.
He calls me when he needs something.

So the Swedish present here is natural and fully covers both the habitual and “whenever in the future” meaning.

Can the negation move, like när inte jag påminner henne i tid?

Technically you can say:

När inte jag påminner henne i tid, …

But this sounds marked and usually implies emphasis on “I”:

When *I don’t remind her in time (as opposed to someone else)…*

Standard, neutral word order is:

när jag inte påminner henne i tid

If you’re just stating a neutral fact, stick to jag inte påminner, with inte directly after the subject. Put inte before the subject only when you’re deliberately stressing the subject for contrast.

Does påminner always need an object like henne? How do you usually use this verb?

påminna = to remind.
Most often it is transitive and takes an object:

påminna någon (om något) – remind someone (about something)
- Jag påminner henne. – I remind her.
- Jag påminner henne om mötet. – I remind her about the meeting.
You can also say that something reminds you of something:
- Det påminner mig om dig. – That reminds me of you.

In your sentence:

när jag inte påminner henne i tid
“henne” = the person being reminded, and the specific thing you remind her about is understood from context.

Using påminna with no object is unusual unless it’s very clear from context or you’re using a reflexive form like påminna sig (“remind oneself”):

Jag måste påminna mig om det. – I have to remind myself of that.

Is henne gendered? Could this sentence be made gender-neutral?

Yes:

hon / henne are female pronouns.

A more gender-neutral option in modern Swedish is hen (subject) and hen (object), same form for both roles.

You could say:

Hen behöver hjälp när jag inte påminner hen i tid.

However, usage varies:

Many people accept and use hen.
Some speakers still prefer hon / han for known female/male people.

If you’re talking about a specific woman, hon / henne is the standard and natural choice. For a generic or non-binary person, hen works.