What is landet?

The definitive article for land or ‘country’, landet means ‘the country’ but also ‘the countryside’.

Vi tager ud på landet i weekenden literally means “we are going to the country(side) this weekend”, and you may have wondered what mysterious country all the Danes are travelling to. But the truth, as you might know, is that although landet means “the country”, it is not a country at all.

By saying you are ude på landet, you mean you are in the countryside. However, if you are her i landet, you are ‘in the country’, meaning that you are in Denmark.

While the close resemblance of these two terms can be distinguished by their different prepositions, they also have synonyms and important contexts worth knowing about.

Why do I need to know landet?

Being ude på landet is a reference to being in rural, countryside areas,  like how you might understand the word ‘land’ in the English expression “working the land”.

Danes also use the word provinsen (‘the provinces’) when referring to small towns and rural areas. In fact, anywhere outside of Copenhagen can technically be called provinsen although I doubt people in Aarhus or Odense would take very kindly to it. 

The use of provinsen in this way can be traced to Copenhagen’s historical dominance over Danish cultural and political life, something that has declined (but certainly not vanished) over the years as other cities have thrived and developed their own national (as well as international) profiles.

While use of the term provinsen can be negatively loaded, then, this is less the case for ude på landet, which is more associated with the type of place where you might stay in a sommerhus (summer house) on holiday, as well as with agricultural regions.

If someone says sådan gør man det bare på landet (‘that’s just how things are done in the country’), you can be sure it will carry a sense of pride about local customs or ways of life – and perhaps also a hint of the dry irony for which Danes are known.

On the other hand, her i landet is an unambiguous, unifying term under which the entire country can be gathered. Similarly, the word herhjemme literally means ‘at home’ but is quite often used to say ‘in Denmark’ – referring to Denmark in its entirety. 

Kongefamilien har aldrig været så populær herhjemme means ‘the royal family has never been so popular at home’ – but there’s no doubt that the ‘home’ in this sentence is Denmark itself or, at a bit of a stretch, every Danish home.