Space and motion being now a rather well studied topic, it is likely to offer an appropriate field for an in-depth analysis of the relations between semantics and syntax. After outlining the theoretical framework used for the definition of motion eventualities (setting out, in particular, the notions of change of placement and change of relation), we examine a specific construction of French in which a change of relation –expressed by an appropriate spatial PP– adds to the semantic content of the verb that basically denotes a simple change of placement. We show that the possibility of integrating a verb in such a construction is greatly conditioned by the semantics of this lexical unit. Four meaning properties seem to govern the construction studied and, after a short review of each of them, we propose to group them under the concept of “tendentiality”.