Language of the Day: Words with "-ate" Endings
Did you know that there are 4000 words in the English language that end with the suffix -ate:
This includes nouns, adjectives and verbs!
AND did you know that the final -ate sound can be pronounced in TWO different ways?
Before we learn how to pronounce these -ate words, what does that particular word ending mean?
The meaning of -ate
On an adjective:
possessing; having the appearance or characteristics of, full of:
examples: fortunate, passionate, considerate.
On a noun:
a group of people: electorate
office, institution: consulate
a chemical compound: carbonate
On a verb:
“cause to become (like); act as:
Example 1: regular + -ate → regulate (= make regular, act by rule)
Example 2: active + -ate → activate (= cause to become active)
The 2 pronunciations of -ate
Now that you see the way an -ate suffix creates the meaning of a word, let’s think about how to pronounce words that end this way. You might think that the -ate sounds like the number eight, right? Well, sometimes...
In fact, the pronunciation of -ate depends on the word’s part of speech, whether it’s an adjective, noun or verb.
Here are 2 pronunciation rules to keep in mind when practicing the words below:
Typically the –ate in verbs is pronounced as ‘8.’
The –ate in nouns or adjectives, however, is pronounced as ‘it’
Nouns: Adjectives: Verbs:
advocate elaborate elaborate
affiliate fortunate affiliate
aggregate articulate articulate
certificate desperate captivate
electorate ultimate animate
Remembering these rules for how to pronounce words that end in -ate, take a look at this sentence and try to figure out how to pronounce every word properly: