how to say “grateful” in Hebrew
The night after I fell off my bike, I woke up at 4am with pain that prompted me to get in a cab and head to the טֶרֶם (TEH-rem) urgent care center. They gave me a גֶּבֶס – cast (GHEH-ves) – because it wasn’t yet clear whether my scaphoid bone was broken or sprained.
That early morning, I felt grateful – for the kind, professional (Arab) doctors at טרם, for having only injured my hand rather than having done something worse, and, suddenly, for lots of other people in my life, not the least of whom is my family. I suddenly started focusing on my relationships more than I usually do.
Modern Hebrew doesn’t have a single proper word for grateful. Rather, we use an expression that means, literally, bound by thanks – אֲסִיר תּוֹדָה (ah-SEER toh-DAH) in the masculine, and אֲסִירַת תּוֹדָה (ah-see-RAHT toh-DAH) in the feminine.
For example:
(hah-YOHM ah-NEE ah-SEER toh-DAH sheh-EH-een lee SHEH-vehr, veh-sheh-ah-NEE yah-KHOHL lees-KHOT, leer-KAHV ahl oh-fah-NAH-yeem veh-leekh-TOHV et hah-reh-shoo-MAH hah-ZOHT)
