Past tense of "eat" - ate or eat?

[BertieBottsJustGotMarried]

I am curious and this is not an easily googlable one due to the spelling.

I was just talking to my friend, English is not her first language but she is fluent, and she asked me about something I said: "We just ate pasta all the time"

She said that she had also heard the past tense of eat as eat - pronounced et. She had thought this was a UK/US thing but I don't think it is - is it? We even checked in a pronunciation dictionary, neither was marked as UK/US and both were in there.

In context > "I gave him a sandwich but he only eat half of it". "We eat them all. There were none left."

That doesn't look right now I've written it, but I'm sure that eat, pronounced et, is a real word, otherwise how would I know it was spelt like that? Is it dialect or something else?

It's not planned, it just is what what it is

I also say both eether and eyether for either. Not sure why

I say "ett" and I'm well posh.

I don't pronounce the "t" in "often" either.

Anyone remember the song "Found a peanut"

One of the verses was "Et it anyway". Definitely sung as et by me and my fellow girl guides

Lyrics:
Found a peanut, found a peanut,
found a peanut just now.
Just now I found a peanut,

It was rotten, it was rotten,
it was rotten just now.
Just now it was rotten,
it was rotten just now.

Additional verses...:
Ate it anyway
Got a stomachache
Called the doctor
Had surgery
Died anyway
Went to Heaven
Forgot my teddy bear
Went after it
Back in Heaven
Kicked an angel
Went the other way
Found a peanut
Threw it away

Growing up in the 60s, my school told us that "'common' people say 'ate'", everyone else was brought up to say 'et' (spelt ate). And I've never given it another second's thought until just now.

Where did you grow up Jodie? It's interesting as there are so many dialects on this tiny island!

Ate is correct, but you can also use eat in the past tense e.g. "He did eat it"...the 'did' being the past qualifier.

Can't believe people are seriously suggesting 'et' is an actual word!!

I'm a common welshy and I say et but write ate.

It's eyether rather than eether because it has a German root, Orange

And an envelope is pronounced onvelope rather than envelope because it's French.

From my own experience; I also think the upper class 'et' belongs to the older generation, the younger/current generation being more likely to use 'ate'

Agree also about it ('et') also being used by those on the other end of the spectrum, and all ages

I say et and ate depending on what mood I'm in. It's much easier to say et though

This was the Thames Estuary chatty, not known for it's poshness!

Round here virtually everybody says 'et' it's not laziness or a class thing, it's purely accent. We do spell it ate though.

Round here, they might mean "I ate it all" but they say "Ah eh ih a"

I say it that way whenever the opportunity arises because I love it

Selks, I don't think anyone said 'et' was an actual word. Some people were just pointing out that it is a correct (formal or upper class, rather than 'slang' or 'dialect' ) pronunciation of 'ate'.

chatty, 'et' is not a slang pronunciation. It is the correct formal pronunciation in standard British English. The 'ayt' pronunciation is actually more slangy (although it is now probably more widespread).

Where did you learn that bedtime? (Not meaning to sound contentious just genuinely want to know the source)

"et" is given as first pronounciation in the OED.

I use both, bizarrely. I'd never even noticed until this thread.

I use both too.

As perfectstorm says, 'et' is the first pronunciation in the OED, and a quick google shows that this is also the case in other British English dictionaries.

Also, every very posh person with perfect RP speech that I have ever met or heard says 'et'.

(Note on this British Library list of RP vowels, the second and third vowels both are 'eh' sounds and both have 'unstressed forms of ate' listed as RP pronunciations with that vowel: www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/vowel-sounds-rp/ )

As I have said above, I believe this is another English class shibboleth, and can see the argument going the way of the 'pardon is horrid!'/'what is rude!' threads.

I think that this does not apply in the former colonies , where only 'ayt' is a standard pronunciation.

I've only heard 'et' in RP speakers over the age of 60. Can see this changing in OED in future.

Also 'et' seemed to be used in inner city schools I used to teach in Manchester.

I think Hyacinth Bucket types use it too

Yes...luckily we have one standard dialect and no 'class' HA!

My Dad used to say "etten" e.g. "where did my sandwich go?" "Your mother has etten it". I think it is Scottish dialect.