What is the difference between ate and eaten ?
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Well it's not so much that one is more recent as it is the difference in the past tense and the past participle. Participles can be used in a descriptive way also referred to as the passive voice (Cake was eaten at the party) where the past tense only works as the verb part (I ate too much cake yesterday). There are subtleties but in general eaten = 食べられた and ate = 食べた。
And I'm sorry to go off topic for a sec but there aren't PMs on this site: is jessenstein a reference to a hilarious series of YouTube videos about Terraria? My curiosity is killing me here ^^
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eaten は eat の過去分詞で
ate は eat の過去形です。
現在形 : I eat bread.
パンを食べる。
過去形 : I ate bread yesterday.
昨日、パンを食べた。
過去分詞 : I have eaten bread.
既に食べた。と言うようなニュアンスです。
または、パンを食べたことがある。と言う意味もあります。
他の動詞で説明すると
I do my homework.
宿題をする。
I did my homework.
宿題をした。
I have done my homework.
(既に)宿題をした。
(とっくに宿題を済ませた)
* have(had)+過去分詞で文を構成します。
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"eaten" is used in passive voice (was and were), where the person who ate the food is not mentioned.
"ate" is when you mention who is the one eating the food.
For example: "She ate the sandwich." and "The sandwich was half eaten." Notice how in the second sentence, they did not specify who ate the sandwich, but in the first sentence they did.
Does that make sense?
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@fishyrobb
It can also have "was" before:
The fish was eaten by a cat.
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@Giovanna-0273939 Yes, but that has a different meaning entirely. It describes the condition of the fish rather than an action by the fish.
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@ntokozovilakazi01
"I had eaten dinner before she called me" (past perfect)
"She has eaten sushi before" (present perfect)
"We ate dinner early last night" (past simple)
"They will have eaten by 5pm" (future perfect)
"Had you eaten before we got home?" (past perfect)
"You ate a lot of cake at the party" (past simple)
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@xiangzhijiang82: "Have you eaten, today?"
"Yes, I ate something a little while ago. Tomorrow I will eat more."
"Good. I'm happy to hear that you are eating."
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You need to put "have" before "eaten"!
-I have eaten an apple before. = I ate an apple, but I'm not thinking of a specific time.
-I ate an apple before. = I am thinking of a specific time when I ate an apple.
-I have eaten the apple. = I just finished eating the apple.
-I ate the apple. = In the past, I ate the apple.
Have you eaten? = Did you eat?
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