המשכיר והשוכר חתמו על פרוטוקול מצב הדירה.

They are very common words in rental contexts:

• המשכיר = the person who rents out the property, so the landlord / lessor
• השוכר = the person who rents the property, so the tenant / lessee

These are normal Hebrew words, but they do sound a bit more formal or legal than very casual speech. In casual conversation, people might also say בעל הדירה for the apartment owner / landlord, though that is not always exactly the same thing as המשכיר.

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• משכיר = a landlord / lessor
• המשכיר = the landlord / lessor

and:

• שוכר = a tenant / renter
• השוכר = the tenant / renter

In this sentence, both people are specific and known, so both nouns are definite.

Because the subject is plural: המשכיר והשוכר = the landlord and the tenant.

In Hebrew, two nouns joined by ו־ (and) normally take a plural verb.

So:

• חתם = he signed
• חתמו = they signed

Since there are two people doing the action, Hebrew uses the plural form חתמו.

חתמו is past tense, third person plural, masculine form.

Breakdown:

• חתם = he signed
• חתמה = she signed
• חתמו = they signed

In Hebrew past tense, the ending ־ו often marks they in the masculine plural form.

Because המשכיר והשוכר are both masculine singular nouns joined together, חתמו is the expected form.

The dictionary form is לחתום = to sign.

It comes from the root ח־ת־ם, which is connected with sealing or signing.

Some related forms:

• לחתום = to sign
• חתימה = signature
• חתם = he signed
• חתמו = they signed

So חתמו is just the past plural form of לחתום.

In Hebrew, the verb לחתום usually goes with על when you mean to sign a document.

So Hebrew says:

• לחתום על חוזה = to sign a contract
• לחתום על טופס = to sign a form
• לחתום על פרוטוקול = to sign a protocol/report

This is different from English, where we often just say sign a document without a preposition. In Hebrew, על is the normal choice here.

Because פרוטוקול is not the direct object here. It comes after the preposition על.

Hebrew uses את only before a definite direct object, not after a preposition.

Compare:

• הם ראו את הדירה = they saw the apartment
  Here הדירה is a direct object, so את is used.

• הם חתמו על פרוטוקול = they signed a protocol/report
  Here פרוטוקול comes after על, so את is not used.

So the key point is: על already introduces the noun phrase, so את does not appear.

This is a noun phrase built around another noun phrase.

• פרוטוקול = protocol / report / record
• מצב הדירה = the condition of the apartment

Inside מצב הדירה, you have a construct relationship:

• מצב = condition
• הדירה = the apartment
• מצב הדירה = the condition of the apartment

Then that whole phrase depends on פרוטוקול:

• פרוטוקול מצב הדירה = a protocol/report of the apartment’s condition

In natural English, this often corresponds to something like the apartment condition report or the inspection report on the apartment’s condition.

Hebrew often prefers a compact noun chain, called smikhut or the construct state, instead of using של.

So:

• מצב הדירה = the condition of the apartment
• המצב של הדירה = the condition of the apartment

Both can be understood, but מצב הדירה is more concise and more natural in formal written Hebrew, especially in legal or administrative language.

This sentence sounds formal, so מצב הדירה fits very well.

Good question. The phrase מצב הדירה is definite because הדירה is definite.

But פרוטוקול itself does not have ה־, so by itself it is grammatically indefinite:

• פרוטוקול מצב הדירה = a protocol/report of the apartment’s condition

If you wanted to make פרוטוקול definite too, you would usually say:

• על פרוטוקול מצב הדירה = on a report of the apartment’s condition
• על פרוטוקול מצב הדירה can still be translated naturally as the apartment condition report in context, but grammatically פרוטוקול itself is not marked with ה־
• על הפרוטוקול של מצב הדירה or sometimes על פרוטוקול מצב הדירה may be understood as definite from context, but the plainest explicit definite form would involve marking פרוטוקול as definite in some way depending on style

In real legal or practical Hebrew, context often makes the reference clear even when English would use the.

Not exactly. Although the word comes from the same source, in Hebrew פרוטוקול often means:

• official record
• minutes
• written report
• formal inspection record

In the context of renting an apartment, פרוטוקול מצב הדירה is usually a formal document describing the apartment’s condition, often signed at move-in or move-out.

So here it is better understood as condition report or inspection record, not protocol in the everyday English sense.

The nouns would become feminine, but the verb here would actually stay חתמו, because that is also the standard past plural form for they in modern Hebrew.

You would get:

• המשכירה והשוכרת חתמו על פרוטוקול מצב הדירה.

Changes:

• המשכיר → המשכירה
• השוכר → השוכרת
• חתמו stays the same

So the main visible change is in the nouns, not in the verb.