If you have to guess where the stress falls in concentrate, indicate, or celebrate, the answer is always the same: the third syllable from the end. This is one of the most reliable stress rules in English.
The Rule
Every verb of three or more syllables that ends in -ATE puts primary stress on the antepenult — the third syllable counting back from the end. Count: -ATE is the last, the syllable before it is the second from last, and the one before THAT gets the stress.
The Pattern in Action
Counting Made Simple
Take any -ATE verb. Find the -ATE. Skip back one syllable. Stress the next one. Examples:
- de-mon-STRATE? No. de-MON-strate. (DEM is the third from end.) Wait — DE-mon-strate? Actually it is /ˈdɛmənstreɪt/, stress on DEM. Three from end: DEM-on-strate. Correct!
- e-VAL-u-ate. Four syllables, count back three: e-VAL-u-ate. Stress on VAL.
- par-TIC-i-pate. Stress on TIC, three from end.
- com-MUN-i-cate. Stress on MUN, three from end.
The Verb-Noun Twist
Many -ATE words have both a verb and a noun/adjective form. The stress placement stays the same, but the final vowel changes:
- Verb: /eɪt/ — to graduate /ˈɡrædʒueɪt/.
- Noun/Adjective: /ət/ or /ɪt/ — a graduate /ˈɡrædʒuət/.
Stress does not move. Only the final A reduces to schwa in noun/adjective form.
What Counts as Antepenult Failure
For two-syllable -ATE verbs, the rule still leans toward antepenult, but with only two syllables, stress falls on the first: create /kriˈeɪt/ is the famous exception (stress on -ATE itself, because there is no third syllable). Most two-syllable -ATE verbs follow create's pattern.
Apply It
Try saying these without looking up the dictionary, just by counting back three syllables:
- illustrate, eliminate, hesitate, irritate, narrate, accelerate, communicate, navigate, decorate, motivate.
You will hit the right stress every time.