Verb - to eat
Vocabulary
Meals
6:00am
12:00pm
10:00pm
Breakfast
Brunch
Lunch
Dinner
Food
Present form - eat
Let's break it down.
​
Subject + verb + noun / noun phrase
​
The cow eats grass.
​
I eat fish and chips.
​
She eats pizza.
​
He eats cereal.
​
They eat hamburgers.
​
We eat sandwiches.
​
You eat chocolate cake.
​
It eats wedding cake.
​
Note that the subjects [Proper noun], he, she and it change the verb so there is an 's' at the end.
​
Conversation:
​
A: What do you have for breakfast?
​
B: I eat cereal.
​
​
A: What does your pet eat?
​
B: It eats wedding cake.
​
​
A: What do you usually eat for lunch?
B: I eat a sandwich.
​
Past form - ate
Let's break it down.
​
Subject + verb + noun / noun phrase
​
The cow ate grass.
​
I ate three pizzas.
​
She ate cereal.
​
He ate fish and chips.
​
They ate those sandwiches.
​
We ate that chocolate cake.
​
You ate wedding cake.
​
It ate a hamburger.
​
Note that the subject does not change the verb.
​
Conversation:
​
​
A: What did you have for lunch?
​
B: I ate a sandwich.
​
B: I had a sandwich.
​
​
A: What did your sister eat in America?
​
B: She ate lots of hamburgers.
​
B: She had lots of hamburgers.
​
​
A: What did your brother have for dinner?
​
B: He ate fish and chips and chocolate cake.
B: He had fish and chips and chocolate cake.
​
NATURAL ENGLISH
We often use 'had' instead of 'ate', especially when it obvious that the noun was eaten.
​
She had a hamburger.
​
It is obvious that a hamburger was eaten and so 'had' is used.
​
They had a lot of pizza.
​
This means that they ate a lot of pizza, but 'had' is used because it is obvious.
​
​
For...
We can that we ate a food for a meal, using the word 'for'. Let's see:
​
I had pizza for dinner.
​
Subject + verb + noun + for + [meal]
​
We had cereal for breakfast.
​
She had a sandwich for lunch.
​
They had hamburgers for dinner.