Learn Hardcore Russian: Если ты забудешь зарядку, планшет может разрядиться в дороге. - If you forget the charger, the tablet may run out of battery on the road.

Если is the standard Russian word for if and introduces a condition. Russian doesn’t require a subject pronoun in every sentence, but ты is often used for clarity or emphasis. Here it’s the informal you.

Why is it забудешь and not забываешь or забыл?

Забудешь is perfective future (from забыть), meaning a single completed event in the future: if you forget (at some point).

забываешь (imperfective present) would sound like a habitual: if you (generally) forget.
забыл is past: if you forgot (already happened).

What case is зарядку, and why?

Зарядку is accusative singular. The verb забыть (to forget) takes a direct object: you forget something, so that “something” is in the accusative.
Dictionary form: зарядка → accusative: зарядку.

Does зарядка mean “exercise” here? How do I know it means “charger/charging”?

Зарядка can mean exercise (morning workout) or charging/charger, depending on context. Here, because the second clause talks about the tablet running out of charge (разрядиться), зарядка clearly means charger (or more generally “charging device/cable”).

Why is it планшет может разрядиться and not just планшет разрядится?

может adds possibility: the tablet may/can run out of charge (it’s not guaranteed).
планшет разрядится would sound more definite: the tablet will run out of charge.

Is может “can” or “may” here?

Both are possible translations, but the meaning is possibility rather than ability:

may = “might happen” (very close)
can = “is able to / may happen” (also common in English)

So может here is best understood as might/may.

Why is it разрядиться (with -ся) and what does it imply?

разрядиться is a verb meaning to become discharged / to run out of battery—it describes a change of state that happens to the device. The -ся form is common for “something happens to itself / becomes X.”
Compare:

разрядить (no -ся) = to discharge something (you discharge the battery)
разрядиться = to get discharged (the battery/device runs out)

Why is разрядиться perfective, and what would the imperfective be?

разрядиться is perfective, focusing on the result: the tablet ends up discharged. The imperfective is разряжаться, meaning the process: to be running down / to be discharging.
So:

может разрядиться = it may end up dead
может разряжаться = it may be running down (process)

Why is в дороге in the prepositional case, and what does it literally mean?

в + a location often takes the prepositional case to mean in/while in.
дорога → prepositional дороге.
в дороге literally means in the road/route, but idiomatically on the way / during the trip.

Could I also say в пути instead of в дороге?

Yes. в пути is very common and often more neutral for while traveling / en route.

в дороге can emphasize the trip/road time and is very natural in everyday speech.
Both work here.

Why is there a comma after зарядку?

Russian typically uses a comma to separate the если clause (the condition) from the main clause:
Если …, (то) …
The то is optional here, but the comma is standard.

Is то missing after the если clause? Should it be Если …, то …?

то is optional. Adding it can sound slightly more structured or emphatic:

Если ты забудешь зарядку, планшет может разрядиться. (normal)
Если ты забудешь зарядку, то планшет может разрядиться. (also correct)

Does Russian require “will” in the main clause like English often does?

No. Russian doesn’t use a separate word for will. Future meaning is expressed either by:

perfective present-form verbs (like забудешь)
or буду/будешь/будет + imperfective infinitive
Here the main clause uses может + infinitive, which already sets a modal future possibility.

What’s the word order doing here? Could it be rearranged?

Russian word order is flexible. This is a neutral, clear order: condition first, then result. You could reorder for emphasis, e.g.:

Планшет может разрядиться в дороге, если ты забудешь зарядку.
Meaning stays basically the same, but the focus shifts to the consequence first.

Is планшет masculine, and does that affect anything in this sentence?

Yes, планшет is masculine. In this sentence it doesn’t change much because there’s no adjective or past-tense verb agreeing with it. But you’d see agreement elsewhere, e.g. новый планшет, планшет разрядился (past masculine).