Судя по усадке, время сушки было слишком долгим.

Judging by the shrinkage, the drying time was too long.

Breakdown of Судя по усадке, время сушки было слишком долгим.

• быть: to be
• долгий: long
• слишком: too
• судя по: judging by

Questions & Answers about Судя по усадке, время сушки было слишком долгим.

What does судя по mean, and how is it used?

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 ...

Is судя a verb form?

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

Why is it по усадке, not по усадка?