This contribution studies correlations between the degree of literalness and the syntax and semantics of French and German verbs. Annotation tests for sentences with German verbs with and without particles and their French equivalents provide evidence for a correlation between particle verbs and non-literal senses, and, for French verbs more than for German verbs, between a shift from literal to non-literal use and a shift in lexical aspect. The last section proposes a preliminary theoretical account for the empirical findings based on specific components and properties of events
