Вообще-то я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написал.

Вообще-то often means something like actually, as a matter of fact, or in fact.

In this sentence, it adds a mild corrective or explanatory tone:

• Вообще-то я как раз собирался тебе позвонить...
• Actually, I was just about to call you...

It can sound like the speaker is clarifying a situation, sometimes even defending themselves a little:

• I wasn’t ignoring you — actually, I was about to call you.

So it is not just extra filler; it gives the sentence a particular attitude.

Как раз is a very common phrase with meanings like:

• just
• exactly
• right at that moment
• precisely

Here it means something like just about to or right then:

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

It emphasizes the timing: the message arrived at exactly the moment when the speaker was planning to call.

Собирался is the past tense of собираться in the meaning to intend, to be getting ready, or to be about to do something.

So:

• я собирался позвонить = I was going to call
• I intended to call
• I was about to call

This structure is very common in Russian:

• Я собирался уйти. = I was about to leave.
• Мы собирались поехать. = We were planning to go.

It does not mean I gathered here. That would be a different use of the verb.

Because the verb here is собираться + infinitive, which means to intend / to be about to do something.

Compare:

• собираться позвонить = to be going to call
• собирал would normally suggest was collecting / was gathering
• собрался can also mean got ready / decided / finally set about, and often feels more completed or more decisive

In this sentence, собирался is the normal way to say I was going to call.

So:

• я собирался тебе позвонить = natural
• я собрался тебе позвонить is possible in some contexts, but it sounds more like I got myself ready / I had decided to call

The verb is собираться, not собирать.

These are different verbs:

• собирать = to collect, to gather
• собираться = to get ready, to intend, to plan

So the -ся is part of the dictionary form of the verb. You need it here because the meaning is to be about to / to plan to.

Because Russian past tense agrees with the gender of the speaker.

• собирался = masculine speaker
• собиралась = feminine speaker

So if a man says it:

• Я как раз собирался тебе позвонить.

If a woman says it:

• Я как раз собиралась тебе позвонить.

English does not show this difference, but Russian does.

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

So:

• позвонить тебе = to call you
• позвонить маме = to call mom
• позвонить другу = to call a friend

This is different from English, where you does not change form. In Russian, many verbs require a specific case, and звонить / позвонить use the dative.

Позвонить is perfective, while звонить is imperfective.

Here, the speaker means a single completed call:

• I was about to call you once
• I was going to give you a call

That is why позвонить is natural.

Compare:

• Я собирался тебе позвонить. = I was going to call you
• Я собирался тебе звонить. = less natural here; it could suggest the process or repeated calling, depending on context

With собираться + infinitive, perfective often fits well when talking about one intended completed action.

Literally, написал means wrote. But in modern Russian, it very often means:

• sent a message
• texted
• messaged me

So in this sentence:

• когда ты написал usually means
• when you wrote to me / messaged me / texted me

The exact English translation depends on context. If this is a casual modern conversation, texted or messaged is often the most natural interpretation.

Russian often leaves out things that are obvious from context.

So:

• когда ты написал can mean
• when you wrote
• when you wrote to me
• when you messaged me

Since the whole sentence is clearly about communication between you and me, Russian does not need to say мне explicitly.

You could say:

• когда ты мне написал

That is also correct and a bit more explicit. But omitting мне sounds very natural.

Because the sentence refers to one completed event: you sent a message, and that happened at a specific moment.

Perfective is very common for single completed actions in the past:

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

If you used писал, that would usually suggest an ongoing process or repeated action:

• когда ты писал = while you were writing

But here the point is the moment the message arrived, so написал is the natural choice.

Because the whole situation is viewed from the past:

• я собирался = I was going to / I was about to
• ты написал = you wrote / you messaged

English also often uses past forms here:

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

Russian does not need a separate form like English was about to; it uses собирался + infinitive.

Когда means when and introduces a subordinate clause.

So the sentence structure is:

• Вообще-то я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написал.
• Actually, I was just about to call you when you wrote.

The когда clause gives the time at which the main action was happening.

Because in Russian, subordinate clauses are normally separated by commas.

Here:

• main clause: Вообще-то я как раз собирался тебе позвонить
• subordinate clause: когда ты написал

So the comma is required:

• ..., когда ты написал.

This is more regular in Russian than in English, where punctuation can sometimes feel less strict.

The word order is very natural, but Russian word order is flexible, and each position adds a slightly different emphasis.

Current order:

• Вообще-то я как раз собирался тебе позвонить, когда ты написал.

This gives a smooth, conversational flow:

1. вообще-то sets the tone
2. я gives the subject
3. как раз highlights timing
4. собирался тебе позвонить gives the intended action
5. когда ты написал gives the moment that interrupted or matched it

You could move things around, but it would change the emphasis:

• Я вообще-то как раз собирался тебе позвонить...
• Тебе я как раз собирался позвонить...

So the sentence is not weirdly fixed, but the chosen order sounds natural and idiomatic.

Usually, yes — or at least that the two actions happened at almost the same time.

The idea is:

• I was about to call you
• then your message came

So it often carries the nuance:

• You contacted me first, but I was already planning to contact you.

That is part of why как раз works so well here: it highlights the coincidence in timing.

Not exactly literally. A better translation is:

• Actually, I was just about to call you when you texted.
• Actually, I was just going to call you when you wrote.

Как раз adds just / right at that moment, not literally.
And вообще-то adds actually / as a matter of fact.

So literally would not capture the Russian nuance well.

A useful breakdown is:

• Вообще-то = discourse word, actually / in fact
• я = I
• как раз = just / exactly / right then
• собирался = past masculine of собираться, was going to / was about to
• тебе = dative of ты, because позвонить takes dative
• позвонить = perfective infinitive, to call
• когда = when
• ты = you
• написал = past masculine perfective of написать, wrote / messaged

So one important pattern to remember is:

собираться + perfective infinitive
= to be going to do something / to be about to do something