العداد الذكي قرب منظم الحرارة.

Because this is a present-tense nominal sentence in Arabic. In Modern Standard Arabic, the verb to be is usually not stated in the present tense.

So:

• العداد الذكي قرب منظم الحرارة
• literally: the smart meter near the thermostat
• natural English: The smart meter is near the thermostat

If you wanted past tense, Arabic would usually use a form of كان:

• كان العداد الذكي قرب منظم الحرارة = The smart meter was near the thermostat

It is a nominal sentence (جملة اسمية).

Its main parts are:

• العداد الذكي = the subject part
• قرب منظم الحرارة = the predicate part, telling where it is

More specifically:

• العدادُ = the subject noun
• الذكيُّ = an adjective describing العداد
• قربَ منظمِ الحرارةِ = an adverbial/location expression meaning near the thermostat

So the structure is basically:

• [noun + adjective] + [location expression]

Here قرب means near.

It is not a verb in this sentence. It is being used as a noun/adverb of place (ظرف مكان) with the sense of near / in the vicinity of.

With full vowels, it is typically read as قُرْبَ when it is inside the sentence, and often just قُرْب in pause.

So here:

• قرب منظم الحرارة = near the thermostat

A learner may confuse it with related forms from the same root, such as:

• قريب = near, close
• اقترب = came close, approached

But in this sentence, قرب simply gives the location.

Because قرب can directly take the following noun phrase.

So Arabic can say:

• قربَ البيتِ = near the house
• قربَ منظمِ الحرارةِ = near the thermostat

By contrast, other common expressions for near usually do use من, such as:

• قريب من = near / close to
• بالقرب من = near / nearby / in the vicinity of

So all of these are possible in Arabic, but their grammar is different:

• قربَ منظمِ الحرارةِ
• قريبٌ من منظمِ الحرارةِ
• بالقربِ من منظمِ الحرارةِ

Yes. That is a very common alternative.

Compare:

• العداد الذكي قرب منظم الحرارة
• العداد الذكي قريب من منظم الحرارة

Both mean essentially the same thing: The smart meter is near the thermostat.

The difference is mainly in structure:

• قرب = a location noun/adverb
• قريب من = an adjective phrase meaning close to

A third common option is:

• العداد الذكي بالقرب من منظم الحرارة

This is also natural and means The smart meter is near the thermostat.

For learners, قريب من and بالقرب من often feel easier at first, but قرب is perfectly good MSA.

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• العداد الذكي = the smart meter

not the other way around.

Arabic adjectives also agree with the noun in:

• definiteness
• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• العداد is definite because it has ال
• it is masculine singular
• so the adjective must match it: الذكي

That is why you get:

• العداد الذكي

and not just العداد ذكي in this sentence.

Because Arabic adjectives must match the noun in definiteness.

So:

• العداد = the meter
• therefore the adjective must also be definite:
• الذكي = the smart

Together:

• العداد الذكي = the smart meter

Compare:

• عداد ذكي = a smart meter
• العداد الذكي = the smart meter

This is a very important pattern in Arabic:

• indefinite noun → indefinite adjective
• definite noun → definite adjective

It is an idafa construction (إضافة), often called a construct phrase.

Literally, it is something like:

• منظم الحرارة = regulator of the heat/temperature

In normal English, that becomes thermostat.

In an idafa:

• the first noun is the thing being specified
• the second noun tells what it is related to

So here:

• منظم = regulator
• الحرارة = the heat / temperature

Together:

• منظم الحرارة = the temperature regulator / thermostat

This is one of the most common structures in Arabic.

Because in an idafa, the first noun normally does not take ال.

So Arabic says:

• منظم الحرارة

not:

• المنظم الحرارة

The definiteness of the whole phrase comes from the second noun:

• الحرارة is definite
• therefore منظم الحرارة as a whole is definite

This is a key rule of idafa.

Compare:

• كتاب الطالب = the student’s book / the book of the student
• باب البيت = the door of the house / the house door
• منظم الحرارة = the thermostat

A fully vocalized version would be:

العَدّادُ الذَّكِيُّ قُرْبَ مُنَظِّمِ الحَرارَةِ.

The endings are there because of each word’s grammatical role:

• العَدّادُ → -u because it is the subject
• الذَّكِيُّ → -u because it is an adjective matching the subject
• قُرْبَ → -a because it is an adverbial noun in the accusative
• مُنَظِّمِ → -i because it comes after قرب in a genitive relationship
• الحَرارَةِ → -i because it is the second term of the idafa

In normal unvowelized writing, these endings are usually not written.

It is not pronounced exactly the same in every word.

• العداد: the ل is pronounced, because ع is a moon letter
  • approximately: al-ʿaddād
• الذكي: the ل assimilates to ذ, because ذ is a sun letter
  • approximately: adh-dhakī or aḏ-ḏakī
• الحرارة: the ل is pronounced, because ح is a moon letter
  • approximately: al-ḥarārah

So a careful pronunciation would be roughly:

al-ʿaddādu adh-dhakiyyu qurb(a) munaẓẓimi al-ḥarārah

Yes, Arabic has some flexibility, but the given order is the most straightforward for a learner.

The sentence as written:

• العداد الذكي قرب منظم الحرارة

is a clear, neutral way to say it.

You may also see other natural versions, such as:

• العداد الذكي قريب من منظم الحرارة
• العداد الذكي بالقرب من منظم الحرارة

In more literary or emphatic styles, Arabic can sometimes move the location phrase earlier, but for ordinary learning purposes, the original order is the safest and clearest.