Breakdown of Han sov med korset på bröstet och slipsen på golvet.
han
he
och
and
sova
to sleep
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
Questions & Answers about Han sov med korset på bröstet och slipsen på golvet.
Why do we say bröstet (the chest) instead of using a possessive pronoun like sitt bröst (his chest)?
In Swedish, it is much more natural to use the definite article for body parts, clothing, and personal items when it is already obvious who they belong to. In these med constructions describing physical states, always default to the definite form rather than a possessive pronoun.
Can I connect multiple descriptive phrases after a single med?
Yes, exactly as this sentence does! You can chain multiple noun plus location pairs using och (and) without having to repeat the word med. The single med covers both the cross on the chest and the tie on the floor.
Are the prepositions in these constructions fixed, or do they change?
They change based on the physical reality of the scene. The construction simply requires a locative expression. Here we use på because the items are resting physically on the chest and on the floor. If his hands were in his pockets, you would use i instead (med händerna i fickorna).
Why are korset and slipsen in the definite form if they haven't been mentioned before?
When setting a descriptive scene using this med structure, the items on or around the person are treated as specific parts of their immediate environment. Even if introduced for the first time, they take the definite form to frame them as the specific objects belonging to this vignette.