Le compteur communicant transmet le relevé de compteur.

Because French often uses the definite article where English may not.

• Le compteur communicant = the smart meter
• le relevé de compteur = the meter reading

In English, you might sometimes say a meter reading or just meter reading, but in French, le / la / les is very common for general, specific, or context-known things.

Literally, compteur means meter and communicant means something like communicating or able to communicate.

So un compteur communicant is a meter that can send data automatically. In natural English, this is usually called a smart meter.

Even though communicant looks like communicative in English, here it refers to a device that communicates information, not a person who talks a lot.

In French, most adjectives come after the noun.

So:

• un compteur communicant = a smart/communicating meter

This is normal French word order:

• noun first: compteur
• adjective second: communicant

Some adjectives come before the noun, but communicant is not one of the common ones that usually do.

Transmet is the third-person singular present tense of the verb transmettre, which means to transmit, to send, or to pass on.

So:

• il transmet = it transmits / it sends
• le compteur communicant transmet... = the smart meter transmits/sends...

Because le compteur is singular, the verb is also singular: transmet.

Relevé de compteur is a fixed expression meaning meter reading.

Here, de compteur works like of meter in a general, category-type sense:

• un relevé de compteur = a meter reading
• le relevé de compteur = the meter reading

If you say du compteur, that usually sounds more specific, like the reading of the meter. That can be possible in some contexts, but relevé de compteur is the standard expression.

So this is similar to how English uses noun combinations:

• meter reading rather than
• reading of the meter

No. Here, relevé is a noun.

In other contexts, relevé can look like a past participle of relever, but in this sentence it means:

• reading
• statement
• record depending on context

In relevé de compteur, it means meter reading.

A useful clue is the article:

• le relevé This shows it is functioning as a noun here.

Yes. In many contexts, transmet can be translated naturally as sends.

More literal:

• transmits

More natural in everyday English:

• sends

For a technical device, both can work:

• The smart meter transmits the meter reading
• The smart meter sends the meter reading

The best choice depends on the tone of the translation.

It is pronounced approximately like:

koh-myoo-nee-kahn

A few important points:

• the final -t is usually silent
• the ending -ant is usually a nasal sound, not a fully pronounced ant
• French u does not sound exactly like English oo, so the approximation is not perfect

A rough IPA pronunciation is: /kɔ.my.ni.kɑ̃/

A rough pronunciation guide is:

luh kohn-tœr koh-myoo-nee-kahn trahn-may luh ruh-luh-vay duh kohn-tœr

A more accurate IPA version is:

/lə kɔ̃.tœʁ kɔ.my.ni.kɑ̃ tʁɑ̃.mɛ lə ʁə.lə.ve də kɔ̃.tœʁ/

A few things to notice:

• Le often sounds like luh
• compteur has a nasal vowel at the start
• transmet ends with an é/è-like sound, not a silent ending
• relevé is pronounced in three parts: re-le-vé

Because languages do not always describe technology the same way.

English says:

• smart meter

French commonly says:

• compteur communicant

French focuses on the device’s ability to communicate data, rather than calling it smart. This is very common in technical vocabulary: the natural French expression may not match the English words one by one.

Grammatically, yes, but it is usually not the standard term.

For this kind of utility meter, French normally says:

• compteur communicant

Compteur intelligent might be understandable, but it sounds less idiomatic in this context. When learning vocabulary, it is best to remember the usual real-world term, not just the literal translation from English.