Contorul este lângă ușă.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

• contor = meter / counter
• contorul = the meter / the counter

So -ul here is the equivalent of English the.

Contor is a neuter noun in Romanian.

That means:

• in the singular, it behaves like a masculine noun: un contor, contorul
• in the plural, it behaves like a feminine noun: două contoare, contoarele

This is very common in Romanian: many inanimate objects are neuter.

Yes. Este means is, and e is the shorter form of the same verb.

• Contorul este lângă ușă. = neutral, standard
• Contorul e lângă ușă. = very common, slightly more conversational

Both are correct.

Lângă means next to, beside, or near.

In this sentence, it shows location: the meter is positioned close to the door.

It is a very common Romanian preposition for physical proximity.

This is a very common thing learners notice.

In Romanian, after a preposition, a noun is often left without the definite article in everyday location expressions, even when English would naturally say the.

So:

• lângă ușă = by / next to the door

Romanian often sounds natural this way in place expressions. If the noun is made more specific, you often see a fuller phrase, for example:

• lângă ușa de la intrare = next to the entrance door

So the missing article is not a mistake; it is just normal Romanian usage in this kind of expression.

A rough guide is:

• u = like oo in boot
• ș = sh as in shoe
• ă = a short neutral vowel, similar to the last sound in sofa

So ușă is approximately OO-shuh.

They are important Romanian letters:

• ș = sh as in ship
• ă = a short unstressed vowel, like the final a in sofa
• â = a Romanian sound with no exact English equivalent; it is the same sound as î

So in lângă:

• â is the unusual Romanian vowel
• ă is the softer final vowel

This makes lângă a little hard for beginners, so it is normal if it takes practice.

The sentence uses the most neutral word order:

• Contorul = subject
• este = verb
• lângă ușă = location

So subject + verb + place is the straightforward pattern.

Romanian can change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Lângă ușă este contorul.

But that sounds more marked. The original sentence is the most natural basic version.

Normally, no.

In a full Romanian sentence like this, you usually keep the verb a fi in the present tense:

• Contorul este lângă ușă.

Leaving it out would sound incomplete in standard Romanian:

• Contorul lângă ușă = not a normal full sentence

So unlike some languages, Romanian normally keeps is in this kind of sentence.