Hans Christian Andersen wrote his books and fairy tales in Danish.
Danish was Andersen’s native language and the language of his education, correspondence, novels, plays, poems, and stories. His works were later translated into many languages, allowing tales such as “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to reach readers worldwide.
Andersen’s original Danish prose is significant because his stories often imitate spoken storytelling. His phrasing, rhythms, repetitions, and conversational tone helped distinguish his literary fairy tales from scholarly collections of traditional folklore. Many of his best-known stories were original creations rather than direct transcriptions of older folk tales.
A common mix-up is to identify Andersen with Swedish or German literature because he spent time abroad and became popular throughout Europe. He did travel widely, including in Germany, Italy, England, and the Ottoman Empire, but he continued to compose in Danish. Translators—not Andersen—created the English versions most readers know today.