Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написала.

Собираться + infinitive means to be getting ready / to be about to / to be planning to do something.

So:

• Я собирался тебе позвонить = I was about to call you / I was planning to call you
• Я звонил тебе = I was calling you / I called you in some context
• Я позвонил тебе = I called you as a completed action

Using собирался shows that the call had not happened yet at that moment. The message interrupted or coincided with that intention.

Как раз is a very common expression that often means:

• just
• exactly
• right at that moment

In this sentence, it adds the idea of coincidence:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить = I was just about to call you

It emphasizes that your message arrived at exactly that time.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the speaker’s gender in the singular.

• собирался = masculine speaker
• собиралась = feminine speaker

So this sentence tells us the speaker is male.

If a woman said it, it would be:

• Я как раз собиралась тебе позвонить, когда ты написала.

Because the verb позвонить takes the person being called in the dative case.

So:

• позвонить кому? → тебе
• дать кому? → тебе
• сказать кому? → тебе

This is different from English, where we say call you without a special case ending.

Examples:

• Я позвоню тебе. = I’ll call you.
• Он написал тебе. = He wrote to you / messaged you.

So тебе is required by the verb.

This is about aspect.

• звонить = imperfective
• позвонить = perfective

With собираться, both aspects are possible, but they mean slightly different things.

Here, позвонить is natural because the speaker means one completed call:

• Я собирался тебе позвонить = I was about to make a call to you

If you used звонить, it would sound more like the general process or activity of calling, and it is less natural in this exact context.

So позвонить fits the idea of a single intended action.

Literally, yes: написала is the past tense of написать, which means to write.

But in modern Russian, especially in everyday speech, написать is also commonly used for:

• texting
• messaging
• sending a written message online

So когда ты написала often means something like:

• when you texted
• when you messaged me
• when you wrote

The exact English translation depends on context.

Also, написала shows that the person addressed is female. If addressing a man, it would be написал.

Because когда ты написала is a subordinate clause.

Russian normally separates subordinate clauses with a comma:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написала.

This is similar to English:

• I was just about to call you when you wrote.

English does not always use a comma here, but Russian does.

Когда means when and introduces the time clause.

The structure is:

• main clause: Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить
• subordinate time clause: когда ты написала

So the sentence means that one action or intention was in progress, and then another action happened at that time.

A useful pattern is:

• Я делал X, когда произошло Y.
• I was doing X when Y happened.

Here it is slightly more specific:

• Я собирался X, когда Y произошло.
• I was about to do X when Y happened.

Написать is perfective, and написала presents the message as a single completed action.

That makes sense here because the message arrived as one event:

• когда ты написала = when you wrote / when you sent the message

If you used писала instead, it would suggest an ongoing process:

• когда ты писала = while you were writing

That would mean something different. The current sentence focuses on the completed event that interrupted the speaker’s intention.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, though the basic meaning stays the same.

For example:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написала.
• Когда ты написала, я как раз собирался тебе позвонить.

Both are correct.

The original version sounds very natural because it starts with the speaker’s situation, then adds the event that happened.

You can also move как раз around a little, but some positions sound more natural than others:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить... — very natural
• Я собирался как раз тебе позвонить... — possible, but less neutral

So the original word order is a good standard model.

Not always, but it is very normal to include it.

Russian often drops pronouns when the subject is obvious from the verb form or context. However:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить... sounds natural and clear
• Как раз собирался тебе позвонить... is also possible in conversation, especially if the subject is already understood

Including Я makes the sentence slightly more explicit and neutral.

Yes, absolutely. This sentence often has that conversational nuance.

Depending on tone, it can sound like:

• a coincidence: I was just about to call you when you messaged
• a reassurance: See? I really was going to call
• a mild excuse or defense: I hadn’t forgotten — I was just about to call

That nuance comes mostly from как раз собирался, which sounds very natural in situations where two actions happen almost at the same time.

Only the final verb would change:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написал.

Why?

Because in the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject’s gender:

• ты написал = you wrote said to a man
• ты написала = you wrote said to a woman

So the original sentence tells us:

• the speaker is male: собирался
• the person addressed is female: написала