system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: in chemistry, what's the difference between "-ite", "-ide", and "-ate"?

AFAIK they're all salts, but what is the significance of the different suffixes?
gpt
-ide is typically nonmetal compoundes (sodium chlorIDE). -ate is an ion with the largest number of oxygen ions, while -ite is used for a smaller number of oxygen ions (NO2 = nitrite NO3 = Nitrate)

For more fun, lets look at chloride:

Cl =  Chloride

ClO = HYPOchlorITE

ClO2 = chlorITE

ClO3 = ChlorATE

ClO4 = PERchlorATE

EDIT:

A silly way to remember this is that the hungry hippo -ATE the one with more oxygens (substitute any rediculous animal to assist in making a mental image)