Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину. - We have already paid off the loan for the car.

заплатить (кому? за что?) – to pay (someone, for something), usually a single act:
- заплатить продавцу за машину – to pay the seller for the car.
оплатить (что?) – to pay for something as a bill/expense:
- оплатить счёт / аренду / штраф – to pay the bill / rent / fine.
выплатить (что?) – to pay out / pay off (a debt, loan, compensation), often in full, sometimes over time:
- выплатить кредит / долг / компенсацию – to pay off a loan / debt / compensation.

In Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину, the idea is “We have paid off the whole loan,” not just one payment. Выплатили is the natural verb for paying off a loan completely.

What exactly does кредит mean here? Is it “credit” like in English?

Russian кредит in everyday speech usually means a bank loan, not “credit” in the broad English sense.

кредит – a loan from a bank or other financial institution:
- взять кредит – to take out a loan.
- погасить / выплатить кредит – to pay off a loan.

English credit can mean:

reputation (“take credit for something”),
access to borrowing (“good credit”),
or a loan.

In this sentence, кредит = loan, specifically a car loan. So a natural translation is: “We have already paid off the car loan.”

Why do we say кредит за машину and not кредит на машину? What’s the difference?

Both combinations exist, but they mean slightly different things and are used in different contexts.

кредит на машину (loan for a car):
- Focus: purpose of the loan – what you are taking the money for.
- Typical at the moment of taking the loan:
  - Я взял кредит на машину. – I took a loan to buy a car.
кредит за машину (the loan for the car you bought):
- Focus: the loan associated with that specific purchase.
- Very natural when talking about paying off that existing loan:
  - Мы выплачиваем кредит за машину. – We are paying off the loan for the car.
  - Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину. – We’ve already finished paying the loan for the car.

So:

When you’re talking about getting the loan: кредит на машину is more typical.
When you’re talking about paying off that loan: кредит за машину is very natural and common.

Why is уже placed before выплатили? Can it go in other positions?

Уже means already and is fairly flexible in word order, but some positions are more natural.

In Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину:

уже stands before the verb and modifies the whole action: “we already paid off…”

Other possible positions:

Уже мы выплатили кредит за машину.
- Grammatically possible, but unusual and a bit stylistically marked; might sound like you’re emphasizing мы or contrasting with someone else.
Мы выплатили уже кредит за машину.
- Also possible, but sounds less neutral; could suggest emphasis on the fact that the loan, specifically, is already paid.
Мы выплатили кредит за машину уже.
- Feels somewhat clumsy; word-final уже can work in some sentences, but here it isn’t the most natural.

The most neutral, everyday word order is exactly what you see: Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину.

Russian doesn’t have a present perfect. Why is выплатили (simple past) used to translate “have paid off”?

Russian uses past tense + perfective aspect to cover many meanings that English expresses with the present perfect.

English: We have already paid off the car loan.
- Focus: a completed past action with a result relevant now.
Russian: Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину.
- выплатили is past tense, perfective aspect → completed action with result.
- Context (plus уже) shows that the result is relevant now: the loan is no longer owed.

So:

Russian doesn’t need a special “have + past participle”.
A perfective past often corresponds to have + V‑ed in English, especially with words like уже (already), ещё не (not yet), etc.

What is the aspect difference between выплатить and выплачивать?

This is the classic perfective vs. imperfective contrast:

выплатить – perfective:
- one whole, completed action,
- or the idea of finishing a process.
- Я выплатил кредит. – I (have) paid off the loan (it’s done).
выплачивать – imperfective:
- ongoing process, repeated or habitual action,
- no focus on completion.
- Я выплачиваю кредит. – I am paying off the loan / I make payments on the loan.
- Я выплачивал кредит три года. – I was paying off the loan for three years (process).

In Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину, the perfective выплатили emphasizes that the process is finished and the loan is completely paid off.

Why does выплатили end in -ли? How would this change with different subjects?

Russian past tense verbs agree in gender and number with the subject.

The infinitive is выплатить. The past stem is выплатил‑.

For выплатить, the past forms are:

Masculine singular: он выплатил
Feminine singular: она выплатила
Neuter singular: оно выплатило
Plural (any gender mix): они выплатили

With мы (we), you always use the plural form:

Мы выплатили.

So:

Я выплатил кредит – a man speaking.
Я выплатила кредит – a woman speaking.
Они выплатили кредит – they paid off the loan.
Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину. – we have already paid off the car loan.

What case is кредит in, and why? What about машину after за?

Кредит:

Verb выплатить takes a direct object in the accusative case:
- infinitive: выплатить (что?) кредит
- nominative: кредит
- accusative: for inanimate masculine nouns like кредит, the form is the same as nominative: кредит

So in выплатили кредит, кредит is in the accusative as the direct object.

Машину:

Preposition за has several meanings and can govern accusative or instrumental depending on usage.
With the meaning “for something (as payment/purpose of a loan)” it takes the accusative:
- за что? – за машину (for the car)

Машина (nominative):

feminine, singular: машина

Accusative of feminine ‑а nouns:

машину

So:

выплатили (что?) кредит (за что?) за машину:
- кредит – accusative direct object.
- машину – accusative after за.

Could you drop мы and just say Уже выплатили кредит за машину?

Yes, you can.

Russian is a pro‑drop language: if the subject is clear from context and from the verb ending, you can omit the pronoun.

Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину. – neutral, explicit “we”.
Уже выплатили кредит за машину. – “(We) have already paid off the car loan.”

In speech, the shortened version is very common if it’s obvious who “we” is (e.g., family members talking about their finances). The plural ‑ли on выплатили suggests “we/you (plural)/they”, and context tells you which one.

So both are correct; including мы just makes the subject explicit.

Are there other natural ways to say this, like with погасить? Are they different in meaning?

Yes, there are several natural alternatives, with slightly different nuances but basically the same overall meaning:

Мы уже погасили кредит за машину.
- погасить literally “to extinguish,” used metaphorically for paying off a debt/loan.
- Very common in financial contexts (banks, contracts).
- Close in meaning to выплатить кредит, often interchangeable.
Мы уже выплатили автокредит.
- автокредит = car loan (a set word).
- Slightly more formal/technical, emphasizes that this was specifically a car loan product.
Less natural / to avoid:
- Мы уже оплатили кредит.
  - Sounds odd: you don’t normally “оплатить a credit”; you оплатить a bill, service, invoice.
- Мы уже заплатили кредит.
  - Also unnatural; you заплатить по кредиту (make a payment on a loan), or заплатить банк (pay the bank), not заплатить кредит.

The original sentence, Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину, is very natural colloquial Russian and clearly means “We’ve completely paid off the car loan.”

If I say кредит на машину instead of кредит за машину, does the sentence still work?

You can say it, but it slightly changes the focus and is less typical in this exact “paid off” sentence.

Compare:

Мы уже выплатили кредит за машину.
- Most natural in everyday speech.
- Emphasis: the loan connected with the car we bought has been paid off.
Мы уже выплатили кредит на машину.
- Understandable and not wrong, but feels a bit more like:
  - “We’ve paid off the loan that we took for a car.”
- The phrase кредит на машину is most idiomatic when talking about taking or having the loan:
  - Я взял кредит на машину.
  - У меня есть кредит на машину.

So in this specific “we’ve already paid it off” context, за машину is more idiomatic and common.