Le contrôleur technique lit le certificat d’immatriculation et indique le kilométrage.

It means the vehicle inspection officer or roadworthiness inspector — the person who carries out the official car inspection.

In France, le contrôle technique is the mandatory vehicle safety inspection, so le contrôleur technique is the inspector doing that check.

A very literal breakdown is:

• contrôleur = inspector / checker / controller
• technique = technical

But in context, it is best understood as the vehicle inspector.

Because in French, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• un contrôleur technique = a technical inspector / vehicle inspector

This word order is normal in French. English often puts descriptive words before the noun, but French frequently puts them after.

Also, contrôleur technique works as a fixed expression connected to contrôle technique.

They are both in the present tense: the present indicative.

Here, the present tense is used to describe a routine action, procedure, or what happens during the inspection.

So the sentence is not necessarily talking about what is happening right this second only. It can also mean something like:

• this is what the inspector does
• this is the normal procedure

Yes. Lit is the he/she/it form of the verb lire, which means to read.

Conjugation in the present tense:

• je lis
• tu lis
• il / elle / on lit
• nous lisons
• vous lisez
• ils / elles lisent

So in this sentence:

• Le contrôleur technique lit... = The inspector reads...

Important for English speakers: lit here is not the English word lit. In French, it is pronounced lee.

Because French uses articles much more consistently than English.

In this sentence:

• Le contrôleur technique = the inspector
• le certificat d’immatriculation = the registration certificate
• le kilométrage = the mileage / odometer reading

In English, we sometimes drop articles more easily, especially in procedural language. French usually does not.

So even where English might say something shorter like reads registration certificate and records mileage, French normally keeps the articles.

It means the vehicle registration certificate.

Word by word:

• certificat = certificate
• immatriculation = registration, especially vehicle registration

In everyday practical English, this may refer to the car’s official registration document.

Because de becomes d’ before a vowel sound.

This is called elision.

So:

• de + immatriculation → d’immatriculation

French does this very often to make pronunciation smoother.

Other examples:

• de + accord → d’accord
• de + habitude → d’habitude

Because French often uses de + noun without an article when the second noun defines the type or purpose of the first noun.

So:

• un certificat d’immatriculation = a registration certificate
• une carte de crédit = a credit card
• une salle de bain = a bathroom

Here, immatriculation is defining what kind of certificate it is.

If you said de l’immatriculation, it would sound more like of the registration as a separate, specific thing, which is not the standard expression here.

Kilométrage means mileage or odometer reading.

It refers to the total distance the vehicle has traveled, measured in kilometers.

So it is not just kilometers in general. It is the recorded number of kilometers on the vehicle.

That is why le kilométrage is a better match for English the mileage than for simply the kilometers.

Not always exactly.

Indiquer does mean to indicate, but in this kind of administrative or technical context it often means:

• states
• records
• notes down
• enters
• shows

So in this sentence, indique le kilométrage could mean that the inspector records or states the mileage.

A very literal translation might use indicates, but natural English may prefer records or notes depending on context.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

luh kon-troh-lur tek-neek lee luh sair-tee-fee-kah dee-ma-tree-kyoo-lah-syon ay an-deek luh kee-lo-may-trazh

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• contrôleur → the ending sounds roughly like -lur
• lit → lee
• et → ay
• kilométrage → ends roughly like -trazh

This is only an approximation, but it is enough to help you say the sentence more naturally.