to thank; to express gratitude (in words or otherwise)
Building blocks
täna- → from the noun tänu (gratitude, thanks)
-ma → infinitive ending
So literally tänama means: “to give gratitude”
How to use it
What to remember
The person you thank is in the Partitive case (third base form)
The reason you thank for comes with eest (“for”), and the word before it is in the Genitive case (second base form)
Example
Ema tänas naabrit abi eest
Literally: “Mum thanked neighbour help for”
Idiomatically: “Mum thanked the neighbour for the help”
Ema - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Mum"
tänas - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "thanked"
naabrit - Noun - Partitive Singular: "the neighbour"
abi - Noun - Genitive Singular: "help"
eest - Postposition - Indeclinable: "for"