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Suffix · forms verbs

-ate

to perform an action, to cause a state, or to become something; forming verbs from Latin and Greek roots that describe processes and actions

In Spanish: -ar / -izar / -ificarBasic

Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated June 2026

What this suffix does

-ate is one of the most productive verb-forming suffixes in English, derived from the Latin past participle ending "-atus." It creates verbs that describe performing an action (create, educate, motivate, celebrate), causing a state (animate, activate, irritate), or undergoing a process (evaporate, deteriorate). Many -ate verbs have Spanish cognates ending in -ar (celebrar, motivar, crear), which makes them especially accessible for Spanish speakers. Recognising -ate helps learners decode thousands of English verbs derived from Latin.

How it is pronounced

-ate

Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.

Examples

Base word
With -ate
In a phrase
  • creatcreateThe programme was designed to create conditions in which new businesses could start and grow.
  • educateducateThe program was designed to educate young adults about personal finance skills.
  • motivatmotivateThe best managers could motivate a team without making the motivation visible as a technique.
  • celebratcelebrateThe town gathered each year to celebrate the founding of the community, though fewer and fewer remembered the actual story.
  • communicatcommunicateThe ability to communicate complex ideas in plain language is rarer and more valuable than the ability to produce them.

Common mistakes

all -ate verbs have Spanish cognates ending in -ar
most do, but some -ate verbs have no direct Spanish equivalent or map to -izar / -ificar instead

Most Latin-origin -ate verbs map cleanly to Spanish -ar verbs: create → crear, educate → educar, motivate → motivar. But some map to -izar (organize → organizar) or -ificar (qualify → calificar). And some -ate verbs have no Spanish cognate at all, or the cognate has a different meaning (e.g. "graduate" → "graduar" in Spanish, but "graduate" in English is also used as a noun meaning a person who completed university). The pattern is helpful but not perfect.

-ate words are always verbs
-ate can form verbs (educate), nouns (advocate, graduate), and adjectives (immediate, passionate)

The -ate ending creates verbs, but many English words ending in -ate are nouns or adjectives with the same ending from the same Latin source. "Advocate" (noun: person who advocates), "graduate" (noun: person who has graduated), "immediate" (adjective: not mediated by anything), "passionate" (adjective: full of passion) all end in -ate but are not verbs in their primary use.

A trick to remember it

-ate verbs in English almost always have a formal or academic register — they tend to be less colloquial than their synonyms. "Create" is more formal than "make"; "educate" is more formal than "teach"; "communicate" is more formal than "talk." This is because -ate verbs come from Latin through formal and academic channels. For everyday conversation, simpler Anglo-Saxon synonyms often feel more natural; for formal writing, -ate verbs are the right register.

Practise what you learned

Exercise 1 · Form the word

Fill in: "The government's goal was to ___ young people with the skills they needed for the modern economy." (to provide knowledge, training, and intellectual development)

Hint: Educat + ate = to lead out (Latin e- + ducere); to develop knowledge and skill.

Exercise 2 · Pick the right one

"The programme was designed to motivate students who had lost confidence in their ability to learn." What does "motivate" mean here?

Exercise 3 · Form the word

Fill in: "The new director's first task was to ___ clearly with staff about what the restructuring would mean for their roles." (to exchange information and ideas with others; to make something known or understood)

Hint: Communicat + ate = to share, to make common (Latin communis = common, shared).

Frequently asked questions

What does the suffix -ate mean in English?

The suffix -ate to perform an action, to cause a state, or to become something; forming verbs from Latin and Greek roots that describe processes and actions In Spanish it usually maps to -ar / -izar / -ificar.

Can you give an example of a word with -ate?

"creat" becomes "create". It is a typical example of the -ate suffix.

Other useful suffixes

  • -ify / -fy

    Turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning "to make" or "to convert into": simple becomes simplify.

  • -ize / -ise

    Turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning "to make" or "to convert into": modern becomes modernize.

  • -tion

    Turns verbs into nouns that name an action or its result: educate becomes education.

Learn every English suffix

-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.

View all suffixes
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