Past Tense of Eat | Examples & Meaning
The simple past tense of eat is “ate” (e.g., “Somebody ate all the cupcakes I left in the kitchen”). The past participle of “eat” is “eaten” (e.g., “Somebody has eaten all the cupcakes”).
| Simple past of eat | Past participle of eat |
|---|---|
| It was sunny, so I ate my lunch in the park. | It’s a good restaurant; I’ve eaten there a few times. |
| Who ate the last slice of pizza? | Have you ever eaten there before? |
| There was a free buffet, and I ate too much. | I’d never eaten there before. |
| We picked some figs from the trees and ate them for supper. | I left some seed out for the birds, but it was eaten by a squirrel. |
Eaten or ate
If you want to use the verb “eat” in the simple past tense to make positive statements (the affirmative), then the correct verb form is ate.
If you want to use the verb “eat” in a perfect tense or in the passive voice, then the correct verb form is eaten (past participle form).
| Simple past tense positive statements | Perfect tenses | Passive voice |
|---|---|---|
| I ate breakfast on the balcony this morning. | Have you eaten yet? [Present perfect tense] | Italian cuisine is eaten all over the word |
| The racoons ate it. | No, I haven’t eaten yet. [Present perfect tense] |
I think it was eaten by the racoons. |
| I bought a sandwich and ate it in my hotel room. | She wasn’t hungry because she had already eaten. [Past perfect tense] |
Breakfast is not to be eaten in hotel rooms. |
- Who ate the strawberry yogurt I put in the fridge?
- Who did eat the strawberry yogurt I put in the fridge?
- Who eat the strawberry yogurt I put in the fridge?
- Did you eat the strawberry yogurt I put in the fridge?
Ate meaning
Ate is the simple past tense form of the verb “eat.” You use it in positive statements (the affirmative) but not in negative statements or questions (the interrogative)—except when the question word is the subject of the sentence.
- She ate everything I put on her plate. [Positive statement]
- She didn’t ate everything on her plate. [Negative statement, so “didn’t eat” is correct]
- Did she ate everything on her plate? [Question, so “didn’t eat” is correct]
- Who ate everything on their plate. [Question word “who” is the subject]
Frequently asked questions about the past tense of eat
- Is it have you eaten or ate?
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It is have you eaten, not have you ate (e.g., “Are you hungry, or have you already eaten?”) because “eaten” is the past participle of the irregular verb “eat.”
“Ate” is the past tense of eat (i.e., the simple past tense form for sentences like “We ate at home before we set off”).
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will check your texts for verb conjugation errors like “have you ate” instead of “have you eaten.”
- What is the past participle of eat?
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The past participle of eat is “eaten.” Because “eat” is an irregular verb, its past participle is not formed by adding “-ed.”
The simple past tense of eat is “ate” (e.g., “She didn’t have time for breakfast and ate a banana when she got to work”)
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you use past participles correctly.
- What does ate mean?
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The word ate is the simple past tense of eat (e.g., “He got up and ate a quick breakfast”).
The verb “eat” is an irregular verb, and you don’t form its simple past tense or past participle forms by adding “-ed” to the infinitive form.
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you use irregular verbs like “eat” correctly in your writing.
