Covalent and Ionic Bonds Is sodium nitrate a covalent or ionic compound? This is a test question. I put the answer ionic compound but my teacher says that statement is false because it is only partially ionic as there is covalent bond between nitrogen and oxygen in the nitrate ion. Is that true?
Bonds are usually used to describe how electrons are shared. "Partially ionic bonds" are polar covalent bonds. Which is not the same as saying that a compound has different types of bonds in the whole compound. I think that your teacher gave you a bad question and a bad answer. If the question had asked whether all the bonds in sodium nitrate are ionic, then it would be a different story.

However, it is true that the bonds between the nitrogen and oxygen are covalent. Nevertheless, stating that sodium nitrate is ionic shouldn't be wrong.