Question

what is ate wuold it be a present participle present participle or past or present

Answer 1

So, a participle is a verb that shows continual doing. It end in -ing.
A past participle would be have petted, as in "I {have petted} the dog."
A present participle would be am petting, as in "I {am petting} the dog."
A past verb would be petted, as in "I {petted} the dog." Notice that "have" isn't there, making it a plain past verb.
A present would be pet, as in "I pet the dog now."

Based on this information, what would "ate" be described as?