По её тону я догадалась, что она намекает не только на опоздание, но и на мой недописанный отчёт.

Because the speaker is female.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with gender and number:

• догадался = I figured out / he figured out (masculine singular)
• догадалась = I figured out / she figured out (feminine singular)
• догадалось = it figured out (neuter singular)
• догадались = we/you/they figured out (plural)

So я догадалась tells you that the person saying I figured out is a woman.

По её тону literally means something like from her tone or judging by her tone.

The preposition по often has the meaning by / from / according to / judging from in expressions like this:

• по голосу = by the voice
• по взгляду = by the look
• по выражению лица = from the facial expression
• по её тону = from her tone

After по in this meaning, Russian usually uses the dative case.

So:

• тон = tone
• её тону = to her tone / by her tone (dative)

Because по here requires the dative case.

The noun тон changes like this:

• nominative: тон
• dative: тону

So:

• её тон = her tone
• по её тону = by/from her tone

Note that её itself does not change here. The pronoun её can stay the same in several cases, so the case is shown mainly by the noun тону.

Both can often be translated as to understand or to realize, but they are not the same.

• понять = to understand, to grasp directly
• догадаться = to figure out, to infer, to guess correctly from clues

In this sentence, the speaker is not saying she simply understood the words. She is saying she inferred it from the woman’s tone. That is why догадалась works especially well.

So the nuance is:

• Я поняла... = I understood...
• Я догадалась... = I figured out / I guessed from clues...

This is very natural in Russian.

Я догадалась, что она намекает... means: I figured out that she was hinting... or I realized that she is hinting...

Russian often uses the present tense in a subordinate clause when describing an action that is ongoing or simultaneous from the point of view of the situation.

Here, намекает presents the hinting as something in progress:

• догадалась = I realized / figured out
• она намекает = she is hinting

In English, we often shift this to the past:

• I realized that she was hinting...

Russian does not always make that same backshift.

Because намекать is the imperfective verb, and it fits the meaning of was hinting / is hinting.

Compare:

• намекать = to hint, to be hinting (imperfective)
• намекнуть = to hint once, to drop a hint (perfective)

In this sentence, the idea is not that she produced one single completed hint. It is more about the general action or implication in her tone, so намекает is the natural choice.

Because the verb намекать normally takes на + accusative:

• намекать на что? = to hint at what?

So:

• намекать на опоздание = to hint at the lateness
• намекать на отчёт = to hint at the report

This is just the standard government pattern of the verb.

Yes, both are accusative.

After намекать на, you need the accusative case.

1. опоздание is a neuter noun, and its accusative form is the same as the nominative:

   • nominative: опоздание
   • accusative: опоздание

2. отчёт is masculine inanimate, and masculine inanimate nouns also usually have the same accusative form as the nominative:

   • nominative: отчёт
   • accusative: отчёт

So both are accusative, even though they do not visibly change much.

Because мой agrees with отчёт, and отчёт is masculine singular inanimate in the accusative.

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative usually looks like the nominative, so:

• мой отчёт = my report
• на мой отчёт = at my report / about my report

That is why мой stays мой here.

Compare with a feminine noun:

• моя книга
• на мою книгу

There you would see a clearer accusative change.

Недописанный means unfinished, not fully written, or more literally not finished being written.

It comes from:

• писать = to write
• дописать = to finish writing
• недописанный = not finished / left incomplete

So мой недописанный отчёт is:

• my unfinished report
• the report I haven’t finished writing

It has a slightly more specific feeling than a general word like незаконченный; it focuses on the fact that the writing itself is incomplete.

This is the standard Russian structure for not only ..., but also ...:

• не только X, но и Y

In the sentence:

• не только на опоздание, но и на мой недописанный отчёт

= not only at the lateness, but also at my unfinished report

This construction is very common and works much like English.

A few more examples:

• Он любит не только чай, но и кофе. = He likes not only tea, but also coffee.

• Она говорила не только о работе, но и о семье. = She spoke not only about work, but also about family.

Because both items depend on намекает на.

Russian often repeats the preposition when two parallel items are joined:

• намекает на опоздание и на отчёт
• намекает не только на опоздание, но и на отчёт

This repetition makes the structure clear and sounds natural.

Sometimes Russian can omit a repeated preposition in certain contexts, but here repeating на is the normal and best choice.

Because что она намекает... is a subordinate clause.

Russian normally uses a comma before что when it introduces a clause like that...:

• Я знаю, что он дома.
• Я думаю, что это правда.
• Я догадалась, что она намекает...

So the comma marks the boundary between the main clause and the subordinate clause.

Yes. In real Russian texts, ё is often replaced by е, especially in ordinary typing and publishing.

So you may see:

• её → sometimes still written as её, but occasionally ее
• отчёт → very often written отчет

However, the pronunciation is still with ё:

• её = pronounced with yo
• отчёт = pronounced with yo

For learners, keeping ё is very helpful because it shows the correct pronunciation more clearly.

Either can work, depending on context.

• опоздание = lateness, being late, a delay, being late for something

In this sentence, it most naturally refers to the speaker’s having arrived late:

• she was hinting not only at my being late, but also at my unfinished report

So being late often sounds the most natural in English here, even though lateness is also possible.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though the original is very natural.

Original:

• По её тону я догадалась, что она намекает не только на опоздание, но и на мой недописанный отчёт.

You could also say:

• Я по её тону догадалась, что она намекает не только на опоздание, но и на мой недописанный отчёт.

This puts я earlier and sounds slightly more neutral in some contexts.

The original version puts По её тону first, which nicely emphasizes the clue: it was from her tone that the speaker figured it out.