Words ending in -ate: How to pronounce them
I ate more healthily: I began to moderate /ˈmɒdəreɪt/ my sugar intake and consumed more moderate /ˈmɒdərət/ amounts of fat.
Did you notice something important? The spelling -ate stays the same, but the pronunciation changes.
What’s going on? Let’s investigate.
1. -ate at the end of verbs = /eɪt/
Most words ending in -ate are verbs. In this case, the ending rhymes with ate:
debate
motivate
participate
communicate
“Don’t hesitate to communicate in English!” /eɪt/
2. -ate at the end of nouns = /ət/
When -ate appears at the end of a noun, the pronunciation changes.
Here, -ate does NOT rhyme with ate.
Instead, it becomes a weak sound, /ət/. It’s the same relaxed sound you hear in:
about (the a sound)
carpet (the -pet sound)
Examples:
climate → cli-mət
chocolate → choc-lət
“In hot climate, chocolate melts very quickly.”
3. -ate at the end of adjectives = /ət/
The same relaxed pronunciation is used when -ate is at the end of an adjective.
Again, it sounds like /ət/, not ate:
moderate → mode-rət
delicate → deli-kət
approximate → əproxi-mət
“We’ll use these approximate figures to work out a more accurate amount.”
Remember:
If -ate is not a verb, keep the ending short, soft, and relaxed.
4. What about adverbs?
Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -ly, so the pronunciation of -ate stays relaxed:
approximate → approxi-mət-ly
fortunate → fortu-nət-ly
immediate → immedi-ət-ly
private → pri-vət-ly
Still /ət/, never /eɪt/.
5. Why this can feel tricky
In real conversations, you often decide in a second whether a word is a verb or not. Some words look very similar:
debate (verb) vs delicate (adjective)
emigrate (verb) vs emirate (noun)
And some words can be verb + noun or verb + adjective:
to moderate: verb → /eɪt/
more moderate: adjective → /ət/
Same spelling. Different sound.
6. One more important point:
-ate + -ed = 1 more syllable
When a verb ending in -ate takes -ed, it becomes one syllable longer.
Why? When -ed comes after a /t/ sound, English puts an extra /ɪ/ in the middle so we can say and hear both the t and the d.
create /kriˈjeɪt/ → created /kriˈjeɪtɪd/
debate /dɪˈbeɪt/ → debated /dɪˈbeɪtɪd/
generate /ˈʤɛnəreɪt/ → generated /ˈʤɛnəreɪtɪd/
Careful: If we don’t pronounce that extra syllable, it sounds like the present tense or an infinitive, and we risk confusing our listeners.
Quick summary:
Verbs rhyme with ate → /eɪt/
Verb + -ed → extra syllable → /eɪtɪd/
Nouns, adjectives, adverbs rhyme with/ət/ (soft and relaxed)
Little pronunciation details like this make your English sound clearer and more confident, especially in meetings, presentations and spontaneous conversations.
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