Asociația de proprietari înlocuiește contorul.

A natural breakdown is:

• Asociația = the association
• de proprietari = of owners / homeowners
• înlocuiește = replaces / is replacing
• contorul = the meter

So the structure is basically:

The homeowners’ association replaces the meter.

Romanian often expresses homeowners’ association as asociație de proprietari, literally association of owners.

Because Asociația is the definite form: the association.

In Romanian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun, not written as a separate word like English the.

• asociație = association
• asociația = the association

So Asociația de proprietari means the homeowners’ association, not just a homeowners’ association.

de proprietari literally means of owners.

Here:

• de = of
• proprietari = owners / homeowners

Together, asociație de proprietari is the normal Romanian expression for a residential owners’ or homeowners’ association.

English often uses a possessive structure like homeowners’ association, while Romanian commonly uses noun + de + noun:

• asociație de proprietari = association of owners
• cameră de hotel = hotel room
• sticlă de apă = bottle of water

Because after de, Romanian often uses the plain noun form in expressions of type or category.

So:

• asociație de proprietari = owners’ association / association for owners

This is a standard compound-like expression.

You may also see:

• asociația proprietarilor = the association of the owners

That version sounds more specifically like the association belonging to the owners or the owners’ association in a more explicitly possessive sense.

In everyday usage, asociația de proprietari is the common fixed term.

Înlocuiește is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb a înlocui = to replace.

So it matches a singular subject such as:

• el înlocuiește = he replaces / is replacing
• ea înlocuiește = she replaces / is replacing
• asociația înlocuiește = the association replaces / is replacing

The subject here, Asociația, is singular, so înlocuiește is singular too.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Romanian present tense often covers both:

• a general/habitual meaning: replaces
• an action happening now: is replacing

So Asociația de proprietari înlocuiește contorul could mean:

• The homeowners’ association replaces the meter
• The homeowners’ association is replacing the meter

Usually the broader context tells you which one is meant.

Because contorul is the definite form: the meter.

• contor = a meter / meter
• contorul = the meter

Again, Romanian attaches the definite article to the noun:

• -ul is a common masculine/neuter singular definite ending

So:

• Asociația ... înlocuiește contorul = The association ... replaces the meter

If you said înlocuiește un contor, that would mean replaces a meter.

In this sentence, contorul most naturally means the meter, especially a utility meter such as:

• water meter
• gas meter
• electricity meter

In other contexts, contor can also mean counter in the sense of a measuring or counting device. But in housing/building contexts, meter is usually the right meaning.

Because Romanian usually uses a postposed definite article, meaning the article is added to the end of the noun.

Examples:

• băiat = boy

• băiatul = the boy

• contor = meter

• contorul = the meter

• asociație = association
• asociația = the association

This is one of the big structural differences from English.

Yes, Romanian word order is fairly flexible, although this sentence uses the most neutral order:

• Asociația de proprietari înlocuiește contorul.

You could change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Contorul îl înlocuiește asociația de proprietari.

But that sounds more marked and context-dependent.

For learners, the original sentence is the best neutral pattern:

subject + verb + object

The special letters here are:

• ă in Asociația
• î in înlocuiește
• ș in înlocuiește
• ț in Asociația

Roughly:

• ă = a short neutral vowel, like the a in about
• î = a close central vowel, a sound English does not really have; you have to learn it separately
• ș = sh
• ț = ts

Very rough pronunciation guide:

• Asociația ≈ a-so-chee-A-tsya
• înlocuiește ≈ een-lo-kwee-ESH-te
• contorul ≈ kon-TO-rul

These are only approximations, but they can help at first.

Yes. Romanian often drops subject pronouns, but in this sentence the subject is a full noun phrase, so it is normally expressed:

• Asociația de proprietari înlocuiește contorul.

If the subject were already clear from context, Romanian could later say just:

• Înlocuiește contorul. = It replaces / is replacing the meter.

But without context, that would be unclear in English, and somewhat less explicit in Romanian too. Using the full subject is the normal choice here.