Inanimadas

Inanimadas is the feminine plural form of the Spanish adjective inanimado, meaning not living or lacking life. The term is used to describe nouns, pronouns, or referents that do not have life, and it is often contrasted with animate or living beings (animadas). In everyday Spanish, animacy is not a formal grammatical category the way it is in some other languages, but speakers routinely distinguish objects that are living from those that are not in semantics and discourse. The phrase las cosas inanimadas is common when discussing mundane objects, while las piedras inanimadas or las herramientas inanimadas provide natural examples.

In grammar, adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number, so a feminine plural noun takes inanimadas: una casa inanimada, dos casas inanimadas. The notion of inanimación is therefore semantic rather than a separate declension class in Spanish. In literature and rhetoric, inanimadas are often described with personification or metaphor to convey mood or theme, by attributing agency or emotion to non-living things.

Outside of Spanish, similar terms exist in other Romance languages (for example, inanimadas in Portuguese). The concept is also used in discussions of philosophy and aesthetics to refer to non-living matter or objects considered apart from living agents. See also animado, inanimación, and objeto when exploring related ideas.