Learn Hardcore Swedish: Jag skickar ofta ett kort mejl till min lärare när jag inte hittar mitt konto. - I often send a short email to my teacher when I can’t find my account.

Ofta skickar jag ett kort mejl … – possible, but now ofta is emphasized (“Often, I send…”).
Jag skickar ett kort mejl till min lärare ofta – grammatical but sounds marked/less natural in standard Swedish; you would only do this for special emphasis.

So Jag skickar ofta … is the normal, everyday choice.

Why is it ett kort mejl and not en kort mejl?

Swedish nouns have two grammatical genders:

en‑words (common gender)
ett‑words (neuter)

The noun mejl is an ett‑word, so:

Indefinite: ett mejl
Definite: mejlet

The adjective must match the gender of the noun in the indefinite singular:

ett kort mejl (neuter)
en kort bok (common gender)

You just have to learn the gender of each noun (dictionaries mark this). Once you know mejl is ett, you must say ett kort mejl, never en kort mejl.

Can I say ett mejl kort instead of ett kort mejl?

No. When an adjective directly describes a noun (attributive use), it normally comes before the noun:

ett kort mejl
en röd bil
ett stort hus

You use the adjective after the noun mainly in sentences with vara or similar verbs:

Mejlet är kort.
Bilen är röd.

So ett mejl kort is not correct in Swedish.

What is the difference between mejl, e‑post, and brev?

mejl
Everyday, informal word for an email message. Can be a noun and a verb:
- ett mejl = an email
- att mejla = to email
e‑post
More formal/technical. Often refers to email in general or the system, not one specific message:
- Jag kollar min e‑post. = I check my email.
- Less common to say ett e‑post for a single message.
brev
A (physical) letter on paper, sent by post.

So Jag skickar ett mejl is the natural way to say I send an email.

In English we say send my teacher an email without to. Why does Swedish need till in skickar … till min lärare?

Swedish usually marks the indirect object (the receiver) with the preposition till:

Jag skickar ett mejl till min lärare.
Hon gav boken till sin mamma.

The English pattern send someone something (double object) is not the normal pattern for skicka in modern Swedish.
Jag skickar min lärare ett mejl sounds old‑fashioned or odd today.

So with skicka, think: skicka [something] till [someone].

The sentence uses present tense skickar. Does that mean I am doing it right now, or that I usually do it?

Swedish present tense (presens) covers several uses:

Action happening now
- Jag skriver ett mejl. – I am writing an email.
General or habitual action
- Jag skickar ofta ett kort mejl … – I often send a short email …
Timetabled future
- Tåget går klockan fem. – The train leaves at five.

Here the adverb ofta shows that it is a habitual action: something you do regularly, not necessarily right at this moment.

Why is it min lärare but mitt konto?

The possessive pronoun must agree with the gender and number of the noun, not with the owner.

For jag (I):

min – for en‑words (common gender)
- min lärare, min bil, min bok
mitt – for ett‑words (neuter)
- mitt konto, mitt hus, mitt brev
mina – for all plurals
- mina lärare, mina konton

Since:

lärare is an en‑word → min lärare
konto is an ett‑word → mitt konto

Why is it när jag inte hittar mitt konto and not om jag inte hittar mitt konto?

Both när and om can translate to English when/if, but they are used differently:

när – “when / whenever” in a time sense
Something that actually happens, or is expected to happen, often repeatedly.
- Jag skickar ofta ett kort mejl … när jag inte hittar mitt konto.
  = Whenever I can’t find my account, I often send a short email …
om – “if” in a conditional sense
A possibility or condition.
- Om jag inte hittar mitt konto, ska jag ringa.
  = If I don’t find my account, I’ll call.

In your sentence, you are describing what you usually do in that situation, so när (whenever) is more natural than om.

Why is inte before hittar in när jag inte hittar mitt konto? I learned jag hittar inte.

Word order is different in main clauses and subordinate clauses.

Main clause: the verb is in second place; inte comes after the verb:
- Jag hittar inte mitt konto.
  (Subject – verb – inte – object)
Subordinate clause (introduced by när, att, om, etc.):
The order is subject – inte – verb:
- när jag inte hittar mitt konto
  (jag – inte – hittar)

So both patterns you learned are correct, but they are used in different types of clauses.

Why do we say min lärare and not läraren or min läraren?

Swedish has two main ways to show definiteness with nouns:

Definite ending on the noun
- lärare → läraren (the teacher)
Possessive pronoun + indefinite noun
- min lärare (my teacher)

You cannot combine them:

min läraren – incorrect
läraren – the teacher (definite, but not necessarily my teacher)
min lärare – my teacher

With a possessive like min, you always keep the noun indefinite (no ‑en / ‑et / ‑na ending).

Can I start with the när‑clause: När jag inte hittar mitt konto skickar jag ofta ett kort mejl till min lärare? Does the word order change?

Yes, that is perfectly correct and natural. When you move a time/condition clause to the front, the main clause that follows still obeys the verb‑second rule:

När jag inte hittar mitt konto skickar jag ofta ett kort mejl till min lärare.
[När‑clause] – skickar (verb) – jag (subject) – ofta (adverb) – …

You must say skickar jag, not jag skickar, after the fronted När … clause. The position of ofta stays after the finite verb.