3 syllables: gen, er, ates. Stress on gen.
JEN-ur-ayts
/ˈdʒɛnɚˌeɪts/
generates is pronounced JEN-ur-ayts (/ˈdʒɛnɚˌeɪts/). It has three syllables (gen-er-ates), with the stress on "gen". Generates is the verb meaning to causes something to come into being or to produce. In everyday use, it often appears in technical or formal contexts (e.g., energy systems generate power). The form shown here is third-person singular present tense, corresponding to a plural subject or neutral noun. Clear pronunciation helps convey the intended action and avoids mishearing as similar words like generates vs. generator.
Generates is the verb meaning to causes something to come into being or to produce. In everyday use, it often appears in technical or formal contexts (e.g., energy systems generate power). The form shown here is third-person singular present tense, corresponding to a plural subject or neutral noun. Clear pronunciation helps convey the intended action and avoids mishearing as similar words like generates vs. generator.
"The solar panels generates enough electricity to power the building (note: standard subject-verb agreement should be 'generate' for plural subjects)."
"This data generates new insights into climate patterns."
"Our system generates reports every hour for stakeholders."
Pronounced /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪts/ (US, UK, AU share the same primary stress pattern). Primary stress on the first syllable GEN, with a secondary rise on RE in some pronunciations. The sequence 'gen' starts with a 'j' sound /dʒ/ like 'gem', followed by a schwa in the second syllable /ə/. The final 'ates' is /reɪts/ with a clear long a and final /ts/. In careful speech, you can hold GEN for emphasis, then glide to RE- with a quick /ə/ and end with /ts/. Audio reference: compare against /dʒɛnəˌreɪts/ in standard pronunciation dictionaries.
Common errors: 1) Saying /ˈɡɛnəˌɡreɪts/ with a hard g at the start of the second syllable or a rolled /r/; correct is /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪts/ with a single /dʒ/ and a schwa in the middle. 2) Misplacing the stress, like stressing the second syllable as /ˌdʒɛnəˈreɪts/. 3) Sliding to a long /ɪ/ or mispronouncing /reɪ/ as /riː/; keep the /eɪ/ diphthong. Practice by isolating GEN (/dʒɛn/) then RE (/rəː/ reduced) and TE/ final /ts/.
US/UK/AU share the same phonemic core, but rhoticity can subtly affect the /r/ near the /reɪts/ boundary; US often retains a clearer /r/ before a vowel (the /r/ is pronounced in /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪts/), UK and AU may have a softer rhotic approach, with slight vowel quality differences in /ˈdʒɛnə/. The main variation is vowel length and intonation rather than phoneme changes: all three typically render /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪts/ with primary stress on GEN and a clear /eɪ/ in /reɪts/.
The difficulty lies in the quick staccato transition from /dʒ/ to the unstressed /ə/ and then into the diphthong /eɪ/ before the final /ts/. Keeping the schwa unstressed is easy to over-pronounce, making it sound like /ˈdʒɛnɔˌreɪts/ or /ˈdʒɛnəɡreɪts/. The final /ts/ cluster can blur in rapid speech; practice by segmenting into GEN /dʒɛn/ then /əˌreɪts/ and merging slowly. Also ensure you don’t affricate the /r/ in non-native speech.
Do you pronounce the 'e' in 'generates'? Answer: The 'e' in the middle is not an audible long vowel; it is largely reduced to a schwa /ə/ or a quick /ə/ sound in fluent speech. So the middle syllable is /nə/ or /nəː/ depending on speed, rather than a full vowel like /e/. The key is keeping the /dʒ/ initial, then the quick /ən/, then the /reɪts/ final.
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The verb generate derives from Latin generare, from genus, gen-, meaning birth, kind, or race; to produce or beget. In Late Latin, generare took on the sense of bringing forth offspring or creating something. English borrowed generate in the 15th century, originally in scientific and philosophical contexts, with senses expanding to ‘to bring into existence’ or ‘to create energy or results.’ The present-tense form generates developed as a 3rd-person singular present, shaped by standard English morphology: root generate + -s. Over time, generate became common in mathematics, physics, biology, and information technology, where systems, processes, or methods are said to generate outputs, power, or data. First known uses appear in early modern scientific writings, with early references in mathematical treatises and natural philosophy where “to generate” described the production of effects from causes, particularly in discussions of motion, energy, and reproduction. By the 19th and 20th centuries, the term spread into engineering and computer science, where devices generate signals, energy, or results. The present simple form generates is now a routine inflection in technical, business, and academic prose.
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Words that rhyme with "generates"
-tes sounds
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