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Updated Oct 11, 2019

The Pronunciation of the Verbs Ending in 'ate'

[Before you read any further, you need to understand what "word stress" means. If a word in English has more than one syllable (音节), one particular syllable in the word is spoken more strongly, or a little louder than the other syllables. This is called the "word stress". For example, "umbrella" is pronounced with the word stress on the second syllable, "bre".]

Follow the steps to read this article. Click on any blue word to hear the pronunciation.

Step 1 –There is quite a large group of verbs in English that end with 'ate', such as "create", "graduate ", "communicate" and "reinvigorate". Notice that "create" is a 2-syllable word, "graduate" is a 3-syllable word, "communicate" is a 4-syllable word and "reinvigorate" is a 5-syllable word

Step 2 – Question: Why is "graduated" pronounced with a different stress pattern to "graduation"? That is, why is "graduated" pronounced with the first syllable stressed (graduated) while "graduation" is pronounced with the third syllable stressed ( graduation)? Answer:  Actually, all nouns that end with "... ation" are pronounced with the "a" (in "...ation") as the main stressed syllable.

Step 3 – Fact:  The stressed syllable of the various verb forms, and of any adjective that is derived from a verb, is the same as in the base verb . For example, for the base verb, "to graduate": "she graduates", "she graduated", "she's graduating", and "the graduated students".. Another example: the base verb is "to co/mmu/ni/cate": "she communicated well" & "she has good communicative skills". 

Step 4 – To repeat what was written at Step 2,– Almost all of these verbs have a noun form that ends with "ation" such as "creation", "graduation" and "communication" and these nouns have the word stress on the "a" part of "a/tion". 

However, some people don't know what syllable is stressed when speaking the various verb forms, and any adjectives derived from the verbs, of some words. The table below will help you.

Step 5 – Study (and try to remember) the contents of the table below.

A Difference Between Most 2-Syllable Verbs and Multi-syllable Verbs

Most 2-syllable 'ate' verbs have the stress on the "ate" such as  "cre/ate", "do/nate" and, "re/late", which coincidentally is also the same place, i.e. the second syllable, where the "a" in, "... a/tion" has the word stress . So "creative", "created", and "creating" all have the same main stressed syllable as in "creation".

However, words derived from the 3, 4 and 5-syllable 'ate' verbs NEVER have that "a" syllable stressed, as it is in their noun form that end with "...a/tion".

Rules for the placement of the word stress on the "ate" verbs   It depends on the number of syllables in the base verb (原形动词) For most 2-syllable "ate" verbs, the second syllable has the word stress, i.e., on the "ate" part of the verb. For example, "cre/ate", "do/nate" and, "re/late". There are also several 2-syllable words that have the word stress on the first syllable, mostly in American English. This will be discussed below. For all 3-syllable "ate" verbs, the first syllable has the word stress. For example, "gra/du/ate", "ce/le/brate" and, "e/sti/mate". Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3" For all 4-syllable "ate" verbs, the second syllable has the word stress. For example, "co/mmu/ni/cate", "a/ccu/mu/late", "e/xa/gge/rate" and, "co/mme/mo/rate". Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3-4" For all 5-syllable "ate" verbs, the third syllable has the word stress. For example, "di/ffer/en/ti/ate", "re/ha/bi/li/tate" and, "re/in/vi/gor/ate". Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3-4-5" To summarize: For the 3, 4 & 5-syllable "ate" verbs, the stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables.

Step 6 – In order to consolidate your understanding of the rules stated in the table above (and in order to increase your vocabulary), have a look at the lists below. These lists show the stress pattern of the base verb.

Lists of "ate" verbs

• I have tried to list those words that well-educated native English speakers usually know. There are also several rarely used scientific and technical words that I have omitted from the lists. There are also probably a few common examples that I have forgotten to list.

• Any word that is followed by "1" is a word that I think would rarely be used in the IELTS test, even by Band 8.5 or Band 9 candidates. Any word followed by "2" might be used on rare occasions by a candidate at the Band 8.5 & Band 9 level but I think most candidates who are aiming for 7.5 or 8.0 in Speaking and Writing would not need to know those words, in addition to the words followed by "1".

• "–" means that no word exists. Usually, this is used below when there is no verb but when other words do exist. For example, there is no verb, "to sophisticate" but "sophistication" and "sophisticated" are commonly used words.

• For the 3, 4 and 5 syllable lists, I have only provided links for you to hear pronunciation for the first few words in the list, as examples. The other words in the list have the same stress pattern. You can hear the correct pronunciation of the other examples by going to http://www.howjsay.com/ (or the app). That website has pronunciation only but he sometimes pronounces verb variations (e.g. past tense) that the dictionary websites  don't pronounce

The dictionary websites shown below can be used to both hear the pronunciation of words and read a definition of the meaning. The Oxford, Cambridge and Collins dictionaries have British and American pronunciation placed next to each other. The MacMillan dictionary can be changed to American English at "Options". Cambridge also has many features to help you learn English, including a translation function for many words.

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/   American English only

http://www.howjsay.com/   Pronunciation only

Two-Syllable "ate" Verbs

• For the two-syllable "ate" verbs, there is quite a lot of variation between British and American English. In British English, more than 90% of these verbs are spoken with the second syllable stressed. But in American English, about 50% of these verbs are spoken with the first syllable stressed.

• Strictly speaking, if you are mostly speaking British English in the IELTS speaking test and then suddenly use an American pronunciation for a word (or vice versa), then it is not (or should not be) considered to be a pronunciation error since there are two versions of "standard English". However, it is best to try to speak one standard as much as possible, especially since as sudden change might momentarily confuse the listener (the examiner). [Although Australian English is mainly a variation of (or a type of) British English in basic pronunciation. many Australians do speak a mixture of the two standard forms when it comes to choosing between British and, American vocabulary if British English and American English use different words for the same thing. This vocabulary difference is often seen when the topic is about cars and roads, e.g.,  most Australians say, "truck" instead of "lorry" as in Britain.]

Three-Syllable "ate" Verbs

• In almost all cases, both British and American English pronounces these words with the first syllable stressed.

• Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3"

Four-Syllable "ate" Verbs

• British and American stress patterns are the same for these.

• Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3-4"

Five-Syllable "ate" Verbs

• British and American stress patterns are the same for these.

• There are several more of these verbs, especially those formed by using the prefixes "re", "mis", "over" and "under" with some common verbs, such as "overestimate". However, even though some of these words are in common use, not all of them are yet recognized by dictionary makers. For example, "miscommunication" is recognized as a noun but "miscommunicate" is not recognized by dictionaries. (The hjsay website pronounces it, anyway, since some people say it.)

• Think of the stress pattern as, "1-2-3-4-5"