Learn Hardcore Russian: Я устал от переписки и собираюсь просто позвонить ей. - I am tired of messaging and am just going to call her.

Я устал literally is “I became tired / I am (in a state of) tiredness now.”
The verb устал is the past tense form of устать (“to get tired”) and in modern Russian it also serves to express the current resultant state: I am tired (now because I got tired earlier).
Adding есть (“am/is/are”) would sound archaic or literary here: я есть устал is incorrect in modern spoken Russian.

Also, устал is masculine.

A woman would say: Я устала.
In plural: Мы устали (“We are tired / we got tired”).

Why is it от переписки and not just переписка or another case?

The verb устать (“to get tired”) commonly uses the pattern:

устать от + Genitive = “to be/get tired of something”

So:

Я устал от переписки = “I’m tired of the correspondence / texting / messaging.”

От requires the Genitive case, so:

переписка (Nominative) → переписки (Genitive).

Other common examples with the same pattern:

Я устал от работы. – I’m tired of work.
Она устала от шума. – She’s tired of the noise.

You cannot say я устал переписка; that would be ungrammatical. You either need от переписки or you change the structure, for example:

Я устал переписываться. – “I’m tired of texting / corresponding.” (Here you use the verb переписываться, not the noun.)

What exactly does переписка mean here? Is it letters, emails, texting, or chatting?

Переписка is a general word for written exchange of messages. Depending on context, it can mean:

traditional letter correspondence
email exchange
text messages (SMS, messengers like WhatsApp, Telegram)
sometimes chatting in messengers or social networks, if it’s message-based

In a modern everyday context like this sentence, переписка usually implies texting / chat messages, especially on the phone or online.

More colloquial alternatives that emphasize texting:

Я устал переписываться. – I’m tired of texting.
Я устал писать сообщения. – I’m tired of writing messages.

What does собираюсь mean exactly? Is it “I’m going to”, “I plan to”, or “I’m about to”?

Собираться + infinitive expresses intention / plan:

Я собираюсь просто позвонить ей.
≈ “I’m going to just call her.” / “I’m planning to just call her.”

Nuances:

It often suggests a decision or plan that already exists, not a spontaneous decision at this exact second.
It can be translated as:
- “I’m going to …”
- “I intend to …”
- “I’m planning to …”
- sometimes “I’m about to …” if the action is soon.

Compare:

Я позвоню ей. – I will call her. (simple future, can be neutral fact or decision)
Я собираюсь ей позвонить. – I’m going to call her / I plan to call her. (focus on intention)

Is собираюсь a reflexive verb? What does the -сь / -ся ending do here?

Yes, собираться is the reflexive form of собирать.

собирать – to gather, collect (objects)
собираться – to:
- get ready, prepare oneself (Я собираюсь – I’m getting ready)
- plan / intend to do something (Я собираюсь позвонить – I intend to call)

The -ся / -сь ending marks it as reflexive or middle-voice. Here it mainly gives the meaning “to get ready / to intend”, not a literal “to collect oneself”.

Conjugation in the sense “intend to”:

Я собираюсь позвонить. – I’m going to call.
Ты собираешься позвонить? – Are you going to call?
Он/она собирается позвонить. – He/She is going to call.

Why is it позвонить, not звонить after собираюсь?

Russian has aspect: imperfective vs perfective.

звонить – imperfective (“to be calling / to call in general / repeatedly”)
позвонить – perfective (“to call once / to make a phone call and complete it”)

With собираться + infinitive, both aspects are possible, but the meaning changes:

Я собираюсь позвонить ей.
– I’m going to make a (single) call to her. (one completed action, specific event)
Я собираюсь звонить ей каждый день.
– I’m going to call her every day. (repeated/habitual action)

In your sentence, the speaker means one specific phone call instead of continuing the text exchange, so позвонить (perfective) is the natural choice.

Why is it ей and not её (ее) or она after позвонить?

The verb звонить / позвонить uses the Dative case for the person you call:

звонить / позвонить кому? – to call to whom? (Dative)

The Dative of она is ей. That’s why we say:

Я позвоню ей. – I will call her.
Позвони мне. – Call me. (мне = Dative of я)

Её (ее) is Accusative or Genitive, used with verbs that take a direct object:

Я вижу её. – I see her. (Accusative)
Я жду её. – I’m waiting for her. (Genitive after ждать)

But звонить / позвонить does not use Accusative for the person; it uses Dative.

Она is Nominative (used as subject: “she”), so it cannot be used after позвонить in this meaning.

What is the function and nuance of просто here? Could it be placed somewhere else?

Просто here means “just / simply” and softens the plan:

…и собираюсь просто позвонить ей.
– “...and I’m just going to call her.” (implying instead of doing something more complicated, like continuing the long text exchange)

It suggests:

The action is simple, straightforward.
There’s a contrast with something more complicated: long переписка vs just making a phone call.

Word order:
Natural positions:

…собираюсь просто позвонить ей. (as in the original)
…просто собираюсь позвонить ей. (focus a bit more on the whole intention being “just” that)

Unnatural or odd:

…собираюсь позвонить ей просто. – This sounds off; at best it might be interpreted as “I’m going to call her in a simple way,” which doesn’t fit well.

So it’s best before the verb it semantically modifies (позвонить) or before собираюсь.

How flexible is the word order? Can I say Я устал от переписки и просто собираюсь позвонить ей or Я устал от переписки и собираюсь ей просто позвонить?

Russian word order is quite flexible, and all of these variants are grammatically correct, but the focus changes slightly.

Original:

Я устал от переписки и собираюсь просто позвонить ей.
– Neutral, natural. Focus: “I’m going to just call her.”

Alternative 1:

Я устал от переписки и просто собираюсь позвонить ей.
– Slightly more emphasis on the whole plan being “just” that.
Almost: “...and I just plan to call her.”

Alternative 2:

Я устал от переписки и собираюсь ей просто позвонить.
– Also possible, with a bit of extra emphasis right before the verb: “I’m going to just call her.” Context can make it sound contrastive (e.g. not someone else).

All are understandable, natural-sounding variants. The original order is probably the most neutral and common.

Why is the subject я not repeated before собираюсь? Could we say Я устал от переписки и я собираюсь просто позвонить ей?

In Russian, when two verbs share the same subject and are joined by и, it’s very common not to repeat the subject:

Я устал от переписки и собираюсь просто позвонить ей.

Repeating я is possible:

Я устал от переписки, и я собираюсь просто позвонить ей.

Nuances:

Without the second я: more compact, sounds like one flow of thought.
With the second я: can sound a bit more emphatic or separate the two ideas more clearly, especially in written, formal, or carefully spoken language.

Both are correct; the original is more typical in everyday speech.

What tense is устал here? It looks like past, but the meaning is “I am tired.”

Устал is formally past tense of устать (“to get tired”):

я устал – I got tired (masculine)
я устала – I got tired (feminine)

However, in Russian this past form very often describes a current state resulting from a past action:

Я устал. – I (have) got tired → I’m tired (now).

This “resultative past” is very common with verbs like:

устать – get tired → be tired
замёрзнуть – get cold → be cold (Я замёрз. – I’m cold.)
опоздать – be late (Я опоздал. – I’m late.)

So grammatically it’s past, but functionally it behaves like “I am tired now (having gotten tired).”

Is this sentence formal or informal? In what situations could I use it?

The sentence is informal / neutral conversational Russian.

Я устал от переписки и собираюсь просто позвонить ей.

Typical contexts:

talking to friends, family, or colleagues in a relaxed conversation
explaining why you’re switching from texting to calling
describing your plan in everyday speech

It might be slightly too casual for a very formal written text, but perfectly fine in:

spoken language,
messaging,
informal emails.