Платёжный терминал работает сегодня.

Literally, платёжный терминал means payment terminal.

• платёжный = payment-related, for payments
• терминал = terminal

So the phrase is an adjective + noun combination, just like in English:

• платёжный терминал = payment terminal
• банковская карта = bank card

The adjective платёжный agrees with терминал in gender, number, and case.

Because терминал is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, the adjective must match it.

So:

• masculine singular nominative: платёжный
• feminine singular nominative: платёжная
• neuter singular nominative: платёжное
• plural nominative: платёжные

Here, терминал is masculine singular, so платёжный is the correct form.

Both платёжный and терминал are in the nominative case because together they form the subject of the sentence.

• Платёжный терминал = the thing doing the action
• работает = works / is operating
• сегодня = today

So the basic structure is:

[subject] + [verb] + [time expression]

Russian does not have articles like the or a/an.

So Платёжный терминал работает сегодня could mean:

• The payment terminal is working today
• A payment terminal is working today

Which one sounds most natural depends on context. In many situations, English would use the here, but Russian simply leaves that unstated.

Работает is the 3rd person singular form of работать, which usually means:

• to work
• to function
• to operate

In this sentence, it most naturally means:

• is working
• is operating
• is functioning

For a machine or service, работает often means it is available and functioning properly.

In Russian, the present tense is normally used for something that is true now or during the relevant time period, including today.

So работает сегодня means:

• it is working today
• it is operating today
• it is available today

This is completely normal. Russian does not need a special tense here.

Because сегодня is an adverb meaning today.

It works by itself, just like English today:

• Сегодня холодно. = It is cold today.
• Он работает сегодня. = He is working today.

So in Платёжный терминал работает сегодня, сегодня simply tells you when.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English. This sentence could also be said as:

• Сегодня платёжный терминал работает.
• Платёжный терминал сегодня работает.
• Работает сегодня платёжный терминал.

All of these are grammatically possible, but the emphasis changes.

A neutral version is:

• Платёжный терминал работает сегодня.

If you want to emphasize today, you might move сегодня earlier:

• Сегодня платёжный терминал работает.

The stress is on -тёж-:

• платёжный → roughly pla-TYOZH-nyy

The letter ё always indicates a stressed yo sound.

A very important point: in everyday writing, Russians often write е instead of ё, so you may see:

• платежный терминал

But it is pronounced the same way as платёжный, with ё. For learners, seeing ё written out is very helpful because it shows the correct pronunciation and stress.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

платёжный терминал работает сегодня
pla-TYOZH-nyy tehr-mee-NAL ra-BO-ta-yet se-VOD-nya

Stress:

• платёжный
• терминал
• работает
• сегодня

A more natural-sounding rhythm is to stress the content words clearly, especially платёжный, терминал, and работает.

Usually it can suggest either, depending on context.

For a machine or service, работает often means:

• it is functioning properly
• it is in service
• it is available for use

So Платёжный терминал работает сегодня could imply:

• the machine is not broken today
• the machine is switched on and functioning
• the terminal service is available today

Context tells you which shade of meaning is intended.

Yes, терминал is masculine.

A common clue is that many masculine Russian nouns end in a consonant in the dictionary form:

• терминал
• банк
• магазин

Because терминал is masculine singular, the verb also appears in the 3rd person singular form:

• терминал работает

And the adjective takes the masculine ending:

• платёжный терминал

Because the subject is singular:

• платёжный терминал = one terminal

So the verb must also be singular:

• терминал работает = the terminal works

If the subject were plural, you would use работают:

• Платёжные терминалы работают сегодня. = The payment terminals are working today.

Possibly, depending on the actual machine.

Терминал is often translated as:

• terminal
• payment terminal
• sometimes kiosk in context

If it is one of those standalone machines used for payments, payment kiosk may be a natural English translation. But the most direct translation is still payment terminal.

Yes. It is a perfectly complete Russian sentence.

It has everything it needs:

• a subject: Платёжный терминал
• a verb: работает
• a time expression: сегодня

Russian often expresses simple statements very compactly, especially when the context is clear.