Нужно сверить показания счётчика.

Russian often uses impersonal sentences when the person responsible is unknown, obvious, or not important.

Here, Нужно means it is necessary or it needs to be done, so the sentence does not need an explicit subject.

• Нужно сверить показания счётчика. = It’s necessary to check/verify the meter readings.

If you want to say who needs to do it, you can add a dative pronoun or noun:

• Мне нужно сверить показания счётчика. = I need to check the meter readings.
• Нам нужно сверить показания счётчика. = We need to check the meter readings.

Нужно and надо are very close in meaning, and in many situations either one would work.

• Нужно сверить показания счётчика.
• Надо сверить показания счётчика.

Both mean roughly it is necessary / one should.

A rough nuance:

• нужно can sound a little more neutral or matter-of-fact
• надо can sound a little more conversational or slightly stronger

But the difference is small, and learners should treat them as near-synonyms in many everyday contexts.

This is a question of aspect.

• сверить = perfective
• сверять = imperfective

After нужно, Russian often uses the perfective infinitive when talking about a single completed action that needs to be done.

So:

• Нужно сверить... = It is necessary to verify/check and complete that task

If you said:

• Нужно сверять...

that would suggest something more repeated, ongoing, or habitual, like it is necessary to keep checking / to check regularly.

So in this sentence, сверить fits because the speaker is talking about one concrete act of checking the readings.

Сверить does not just mean look at or inspect. It usually means compare something with another source to make sure it matches.

So in this context, it suggests something like:

• comparing the meter readings with previous records
• comparing them with a bill
• confirming that the noted readings are correct

That is a bit more specific than a very general verb like проверить.

For example:

• сверить данные = compare data
• сверить список = check a list against another list
• сверить показания счётчика = compare/verify the meter readings

Here показания is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of сверить.

• сверить что? → показания

The reason it looks the same as the nominative is that показания is an inanimate plural noun, and for inanimate plurals, nominative and accusative are the same.

So:

• nominative plural: показания
• accusative plural: показания

In Russian, показания is the normal word for readings or indications in contexts like meters, instruments, or devices.

So показания счётчика is the standard way to say the meter readings.

The singular показание exists, but in this context the plural is much more natural. Also, показание often has other meanings, especially testimony or a statement given as evidence.

So for a meter, device, or gauge, Russian usually prefers:

• показания счётчика
• показания прибора

Because счётчика is genitive singular.

Russian often uses the genitive after another noun to mean of:

• показания счётчика = the readings of the meter

So:

• счётчик = nominative singular
• счётчика = genitive singular

This is very common in Russian noun phrases:

• номер телефона = phone number
• дверь комнаты = the door of the room
• показания счётчика = meter readings

English often uses noun + noun, but Russian often uses noun + genitive noun instead.

Счётчик means a meter or counter.

In this sentence, it usually refers to a utility meter, such as:

• an electricity meter
• a gas meter
• a water meter

More generally, счётчик can also mean any device that counts something, including a digital counter.

So the exact kind of meter depends on the situation, but grammatically the word itself is simply meter/counter.

That is normal in Russian spelling.

The correct pronunciation here is with ё:

• счётчик
• счётчика

But in everyday writing, Russians often replace ё with е, so you may see:

• счетчик
• счетчика

Even when written with е, native speakers usually still know it is pronounced with ё from context.

A helpful pronunciation guide for the full sentence is:

• Ну́жно све́рить показа́ния счётчика.

And remember: ё is always stressed.

Yes, absolutely. That would sound natural too.

The difference is mainly nuance:

• проверить = check, a general word
• сверить = check by comparing with something else / make sure it matches

So:

• Нужно проверить показания счётчика. = general We need to check the meter readings.
• Нужно сверить показания счётчика. = We need to compare/verify the meter readings against something.

In many practical situations, both are possible, but сверить is a bit more specific.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it usually changes emphasis, not the core meaning.

For example:

• Нужно сверить показания счётчика.
  Neutral: It is necessary to verify the meter readings.

• Показания счётчика нужно сверить.
  Emphasizes the meter readings.

• Сверить показания счётчика нужно сегодня.
  Emphasizes the checking or what needs to be done today.

The version you were given is the most neutral and natural one in many contexts.