عداد الكهرباء في المطبخ.

Because Arabic often uses a nominal sentence in the present tense without an explicit verb to be.

So:

• عداد الكهرباء في المطبخ literally works like:
• The electricity meter in the kitchen

But in natural English, we say:

• The electricity meter is in the kitchen

In Modern Standard Arabic, the idea of is is understood automatically in the present tense. If you wanted the past tense, then you would usually add a verb such as كان (was).

Word by word:

• عداد = meter / counter
• الكهرباء = the electricity

So literally it is:

• meter of the electricity

But in English, we normally translate that as:

• the electricity meter
• or the electric meter

This is a very common Arabic structure where two nouns are put together to express possession or a close relationship.

Because عداد الكهرباء is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun-noun phrase.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the second noun can make the whole phrase definite if it is definite

So:

• عداد = meter
• الكهرباء = the electricity

Together:

• عداد الكهرباء = the electricity meter

Even though عداد has no الـ, the whole phrase is definite because the second noun, الكهرباء, is definite.

No. In Arabic, الكهرباء here is still a noun, not an adjective.

Arabic often uses a noun-noun structure where English might use:

• a noun + noun, as in electricity meter
• or an adjective + noun, as in electric meter

So عداد الكهرباء literally means meter of electricity, not electric meter in the grammatical sense of adjective + noun.

If it were an adjective structure, it would look different.

في is the preposition meaning in.

So:

• في المطبخ = in the kitchen

This prepositional phrase tells you the location of the meter.

The sentence structure is:

• عداد الكهرباء = the electricity meter
• في المطبخ = in the kitchen

Together:

• The electricity meter is in the kitchen.

المطبخ means the kitchen, while مطبخ means a kitchen.

So:

• في المطبخ = in the kitchen
• في مطبخ = in a kitchen

If the meaning shown to the learner is in the kitchen, then المطبخ is the correct form.

Arabic uses الـ to mark definiteness, just like English uses the.

In fully vocalized formal Arabic, it would typically be:

• عَدَّادُ الكَهْرَبَاءِ فِي المَطْبَخِ

Here is why:

• عدادُ ends in -u because it is the subject of the nominal sentence
• الكهرباءِ ends in -i because it is the second part of the iḍāfa
• المطبخِ ends in -i because it comes after the preposition في

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowels are usually omitted, so you normally just see:

• عداد الكهرباء في المطبخ

A careful pronunciation would be approximately:

• ʿaddād al-kahrabāʾ fī al-maṭbakh

A few notes:

• ع at the start of عداد is the letter ʿayn, which has no exact English equivalent.
• في is pronounced fī with a long ee sound.
• خ in المطبخ is like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach.
• ط in مطبخ is a heavy/emphatic t.

Also, in connected speech, people may pronounce it smoothly as:

• ʿaddād il-kahrabāʾ fil-maṭbakh

  depending on style and dialect influence, but in MSA the careful form above is a good model.

It is still two words, but together they form a very tight unit because of the iḍāfa construction.

So Arabic speakers understand عداد الكهرباء as a single phrase meaning:

• electricity meter
• electric meter

This kind of phrase is extremely common in Arabic, for example:

• باب البيت = the door of the house / the house door
• مدير المدرسة = the director of the school / the school principal

So عداد الكهرباء works in the same way.

Yes, but the meaning or emphasis may shift.

The basic neutral order here is:

• عداد الكهرباء في المطبخ
• The electricity meter is in the kitchen

You could also say:

• في المطبخ عداد الكهرباء

This can sound more marked or emphasize the location, something like:

• In the kitchen is the electricity meter
• or The electricity meter is in the kitchen with extra focus on in the kitchen

So the original sentence is the most straightforward, neutral version.

That is just part of the spelling of the noun كهرباء (electricity).

The ending اء here represents a final long vowel plus hamza sound: -āʾ.

So:

• كهرباء is pronounced approximately kahrabāʾ

This is simply the normal dictionary form of the word. It is not something added because of the sentence structure.

Usually, عداد الكهرباء في المطبخ is most naturally understood as:

• The electricity meter is in the kitchen

That is because عداد الكهرباء is definite.

If you wanted to say There is an electricity meter in the kitchen, Arabic would more naturally use an indefinite noun, such as:

• يوجد عداد كهرباء في المطبخ
• There is an electricity meter in the kitchen

or simply:

• في المطبخ عداد كهرباء

So definiteness matters a lot here.

This is one of the most important things to learn about iḍāfa.

In Arabic, the first noun in an iḍāfa gets its definiteness from the second noun.

Compare:

• عداد كهرباء = an electricity meter
• عداد الكهرباء = the electricity meter

So:

• عداد by itself is not marked with الـ
• but when followed by a definite second noun, the whole phrase becomes definite

This is completely normal Arabic grammar.

Yes, that is possible, but it is a slightly different structure.

• عداد الكهرباء = electricity meter
• العداد الكهربائي = the electric meter

The first uses an iḍāfa with two nouns. The second uses a noun + adjective structure.

In the adjective version:

• both words are definite
• the adjective must agree with the noun in definiteness, gender, and number

So:

• العداد الكهربائي = the electric meter

Both can be correct depending on context, but عداد الكهرباء is very natural and common.