The word ending <ate> can occur on adjectives, nouns and verbs. At the end of adjectives it is pronounced ət. Here are some examples:
animate considerate deliberate intermediate separate
With nouns too the pronunciation is ət. Examples:
advocate associate confederate graduate predicate
With verbs, however, the ending is pronounced eɪt. Examples:
activate consolidate federate imitate mediate tolerate validate
There are quite a few verb/non-verb pairs which are distinguished only by the pronunciation of the ending. Examples:
animate deliberate graduate intimate predicate separate
2013_07_22