Судя по ворсовому фильтру, сушильная машина давно не работала.

Судя по means judging by, based on, or to go by.

So Судя по ворсовому фильтру literally means something like judging by the lint filter.

Grammatically, судя is historically related to the verb судить (to judge), but in modern Russian судя по works as a fixed expression. Learners usually do best treating it as a set phrase:

• судя по виду — judging by the appearance
• судя по голосу — judging by the voice
• судя по всему — judging by everything / apparently

In this sentence, it introduces the evidence the speaker is using to make a conclusion.

Because the preposition по here requires the dative case.

The dictionary form is:

• ворсовый фильтр — lint filter

But after по in the expression судя по, the noun phrase changes to dative:

• ворсовому фильтру — to/by the lint filter

So:

• nominative: ворсовый фильтр
• dative: ворсовому фильтру

This is one of the most common things Russian learners have to get used to: prepositions often force a particular case, and по very often takes the dative.

It means lint filter.

• ворс = fluff, nap, lint, fibers
• ворсовый = relating to lint/fibers/fluff
• фильтр = filter

In natural English, for a dryer, you would usually call this the lint filter or lint trap.

So although ворсовый фильтр is understandable literally as something like fiber filter, the natural appliance vocabulary is lint filter.

Because it has to agree with фильтру, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• dative

The adjective ворсовый changes form to match the noun:

• nominative masculine singular: ворсовый фильтр
• dative masculine singular: ворсовому фильтру

This is basic adjective-noun agreement in Russian. The adjective always follows the noun’s gender, number, and case.

Yes, сушильная машина is a normal and clear way to say dryer or drying machine, especially in contexts where you want to be precise.

Breakdown:

• сушильная = drying
• машина = machine

So literally it is drying machine.

In everyday speech, people may also say:

• сушилка — dryer, drying rack, or drying device, depending on context

But сушильная машина is especially clear when you mean the household appliance.

Because it agrees with сушильная машина, which is a feminine noun.

In the past tense, Russian verbs change for gender in the singular:

• masculine: работал
• feminine: работала
• neuter: работало
• plural: работали

Since машина is feminine, the verb must also be feminine:

• сушильная машина ... не работала

Even though English past tense verbs do not change for gender, Russian past tense singular forms do.

Yes, literally не работала means was not working or didn’t work. But with appliances, Russian работать often has a wider meaning than English work.

Depending on context, машина не работала can mean:

• it was not operating
• it had not been run
• it had not been in use

Here the clue is judging by the lint filter. A dirty or unchanged lint filter suggests the dryer has not been used for a long time, so English may translate the idea more naturally as the dryer hasn’t been used in a long time.

So the Russian is normal, even if English might choose a different verb.

Because давно and долго mean different things.

• давно = long ago / for a long time now / not recently
• долго = for a long time, emphasizing duration

In negative sentences about something not happening for a while, Russian very often uses давно не:

• Я давно его не видел. — I haven’t seen him for a long time.
• Машина давно не работала. — The machine hasn’t been working / hasn’t been used for a long time.

If you said долго не работала, it would focus more on the duration of the non-working state itself. That can be possible in some contexts, but давно не работала is the natural choice here.

Yes, aspect matters.

работать is the imperfective verb. Here it is used because the sentence describes a general state or situation, not a single completed event.

The idea is:

• the dryer has not been functioning / has not been used for a long time

Russian prefers the imperfective for that kind of ongoing or general negative statement.

A perfective form would not fit well here, because the sentence is not about one completed action of working once. It is about a stretch of time during which the machine was not operating.

Yes, the comma is standard here.

The phrase судя по ... is usually treated as an introductory or parenthetical phrase that gives the basis for the speaker’s conclusion, so it is separated by a comma:

• Судя по ворсовому фильтру, сушильная машина давно не работала.

This is very common with expressions like:

• судя по всему, ...
• судя по его словам, ...
• судя по виду, ...

So for learners, it is safest to remember: if a sentence starts with судя по ..., a comma will usually follow.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, although some versions sound more natural than others depending on emphasis.

The given sentence is very natural:

• Судя по ворсовому фильтру, сушильная машина давно не работала.

You could also say:

• Сушильная машина, судя по ворсовому фильтру, давно не работала.

That version places the main topic first and inserts судя по ворсовому фильтру as a parenthetical comment.

You could even rearrange it further, but not every order sounds equally natural. The original order is a good default because it presents the evidence first and then the conclusion.

Not completely. It suggests an inference based on evidence, not absolute certainty.

The speaker is saying:

• I’m concluding this from the lint filter
• Based on what the filter looks like, this seems to be the case

So the phrase naturally carries the idea of apparently, it looks like, or judging by the evidence.

It is stronger than a pure guess, but weaker than a direct factual statement.

Yes, that is possible, and it may even feel more transparent to a learner because it literally means filter for lint.

Compare:

• ворсовый фильтр
• фильтр для ворса

Both can refer to a lint filter. The first is more compact and adjective-based; the second is more descriptive.

Russian often has both patterns:

• adjective + noun
• noun + для
  • genitive

Which one sounds more natural can depend on context, terminology, and speaker preference. In appliance-related language, ворсовый фильтр is perfectly normal.

It can, but in this sentence that is probably not the main idea.

On its own, не работала can sometimes suggest:

• it was not functioning
• it was broken
• it was not running
• it was not being used

But because the sentence begins with Судя по ворсовому фильтру, the interpretation shifts toward it hasn’t been used for a long time. A lint filter gives evidence about use, not necessarily about mechanical failure.

So context strongly favors the dryer has not been run in a long time, rather than the dryer has been broken for a long time.