Learn Hardcore Turkish: Sayaç okuması yanlış görünüyor.

Literally, sayaç means meter or counter, and okuması means its reading. Together, sayaç okuması is the normal Turkish way to say meter reading.

Why does okuması end with -sı?

This is because sayaç okuması is a common Turkish noun compound. In this pattern, the first noun stays plain, and the second noun takes the 3rd person possessive suffix.

So:

okuma = reading
okuması = its reading

The -sı appears because okuma ends in a vowel, so Turkish uses a buffer s before the possessive ending.

Does okuması really mean someone owns the reading?

Not in the usual ownership sense. In Turkish, this possessive-looking form is very often used just to build compound nouns.

So sayaç okuması does not strongly mean the meter’s reading in an English possessive sense. It simply means meter reading as a set expression.

What does görünüyor mean here?