"המחשבים האלה משלמים את עצמם."
Translation:These computers pay for themselves.
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1166
I wouldn't use either "משלמים את עצמם" or "משלמים על עצמם" in Hebrew. Both are direct translations of English idioms and neither has become commonly used in Hebrew. The verb לשלם is not used to mean "earn" If I wanted to express the meaning of the English sentence I might go with something like:
המחשבים האלה מחזירים את העלות שלהם
I don't understand the nuances of the English translations, but I think the meaning of משלמים את עצמם and משתלמים are very close, because
מתי משהו משתלם? כשהוא מחזיר את העלות שלו
If you pay for something and it doesn't pay back your investment, so it's not profitable. Am I right? (Not a literal translation of course).
By the way, I think maybe 'get paid' is מקבל תשלום. But I am not sure how to translate: המוצר שוּלַם.
1635
It is not changed. There is משלמים את עצמם still. Can the main translation above be changed? Something as These computers pay themselves.
1166
I have never noticed it. It may be in sentences like this one where the next word begins with a vowel, so the speaker intentionally pauses between the את and the next word to avoid it sounding like "etatzmam".