This study investigates spatial prepositional phrases (PPs) in German and Chinese, adopting the proposal that directional PPs embed a locative PP. According to this view, the semantics of these PPs is determined by their structure, not by the lexical properties of the preposition. The morphological case-markings of the noun phrases in these PPs reflect the internal structures of the PPs. This study argues that event structure may account for the linking between the semantics and the syntax of spatial PPs.