Судя по усадке, время сушки было слишком долгим.

Судя по means judging by, judging from, or based on.

In this sentence, Судя по усадке introduces the evidence the speaker is using to make a conclusion: the shrinkage suggests that the drying time was too long.

It is a very common Russian pattern:

• Судя по голосу, он устал. = Judging by his voice, he is tired.
• Судя по погоде, будет дождь. = Judging by the weather, it will rain.

So here, the structure is:

• судя по + noun in the dative case
• meaning: judging by/from ...

Yes. Судя comes from the verb судить = to judge.

More specifically, it is an adverbial participle (sometimes called a gerund). But in modern Russian, судя по is often best learned as a fixed expression rather than analyzed every time as a fully literal verb form.

So although it historically means something like judging, in practice learners should recognize:

• судя по = judging by / based on

Because по in this expression takes the dative case.

The dictionary form is:

• усадка = shrinkage

Its dative singular form is:

• усадке

So:

• судя по усадке = judging by the shrinkage

This is one of the key things to memorize with the phrase судя по:

• судя по + dative

Because Судя по усадке is an introductory adverbial phrase, and in standard Russian it is separated from the main clause with a comma.

So the sentence naturally divides into:

• Судя по усадке, = judging by the shrinkage,
• время сушки было слишком долгим. = the drying time was too long.

This punctuation is very normal with судя по ... at the beginning of a sentence.

Время сушки literally means time of drying, which English expresses more naturally as drying time.

Here:

• время = time
• сушки = genitive singular of сушка = drying

Russian often uses noun + genitive noun where English uses a noun as an adjective-like modifier.

So:

• время сушки = drying time
• literally: time of drying

This is a very common Russian pattern.

Because the subject is время, and время is neuter singular.

In the past tense, быть agrees with the subject:

• был = masculine
• была = feminine
• было = neuter
• были = plural

Since время is neuter, we get:

• время ... было

Because after было, a full adjective used as the predicate is very commonly put in the instrumental case.

So:

• долгий = long
• instrumental singular neuter here: долгим

That gives:

• время сушки было слишком долгим = the drying time was too long

This is the standard, natural phrasing.

A learner might expect долгое because время is neuter nominative, but Russian does not normally say было слишком долгое here in neutral standard usage. The instrumental долгим is what sounds right.

Слишком means too, in the sense of excessively or more than is acceptable.

So:

• слишком долгим = too long

This is stronger than очень долгим:

• очень долгим = very long
• слишком долгим = too long

So the sentence is not just describing the drying time as long; it is saying it was longer than it should have been.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible.

For example, you could also say:

• Время сушки, судя по усадке, было слишком долгим.

This still means the same thing.

The original order:

• Судя по усадке, время сушки было слишком долгим.

puts the evidence first, which is very natural if the speaker wants to frame the statement as a conclusion based on observation.

So the original sentence is neutral and natural, especially in technical or analytical writing.

It sounds neutral to somewhat formal, and it fits especially well in a technical, scientific, or analytical context.

Words like:

• усадка = shrinkage
• время сушки = drying time

make it sound like the speaker is discussing a material, process, or experiment rather than casual everyday conversation.

The grammar itself is not unusually formal, but the vocabulary and style are typical of careful descriptive writing.