Learn Hardcore Russian: Ты можешь просто позвонить в офис.

Russian has two aspects for verbs: imperfective and perfective. Звонить (imperfective) describes the ongoing process of calling or habitual calls. Позвонить (perfective) focuses on completing the action once—“to make a (single) call.” Here you want the listener simply to finish that call, so you use the perfective позвонить.

Why is офис in the accusative case with the preposition в? Doesn’t позвонить require a dative object?

When you “call someone,” you normally use dative: позвонить директору (to call the director). But when you talk about calling a place or department, Russian treats it like a direction—позвонить куда? + в + accusative. So в офис marks the office as the place you direct your call to, not a person you call.

What does просто add to the sentence, and can I move it around?

Просто means “just” or “simply,” softening the suggestion by implying it’s easy or the simplest solution. Placement options:

Ты можешь просто позвонить… (most neutral)
Ты просто можешь позвонить… (slightly emphasises “you” should simply do it)
Просто ты можешь позвонить… (less common, emphasises the “just” most strongly) Each position shifts the nuance slightly, but all are grammatically correct.

The sentence uses ты можешь. How would I say this in a formal or plural “you” context?

Swap ты → вы and change the verb form:

Informal singular: Ты можешь просто позвонить в офис.
Formal or plural: Вы можете просто позвонить в офис.

Can I turn this into a direct command, like Просто позвони в офис?

Yes. Removing the modal можешь and using the imperative makes it more direct:

Просто позвони в офис. (“Just call the office.”)
This is shorter and more forceful than the original suggestion.

Is it okay to drop ты and say Можешь просто позвонить в офис?

Absolutely. In spoken Russian, pronouns are often omitted when the verb ending makes the subject clear:

Можешь просто позвонить в офис.
It remains informal and understood as “you can.”