The article investigates and compares the verbalization of the in-out spatial relation in Swedish and Polish. Swedish phrasal verbs containing particles relating to the container schema (gå in/ut/igenom, hoppa i/ur) are analyzed and compared with Polish verbs with prefixes (wyjść/wejść, przejść, wskoczyć/wyskoczyć). The investigation shows that the prototypical landmark for the Swedish verbal particles in/ut is a horizontally orientated container (a container with a roof) and for the Swedish verbal particles i/ur there is a small landmark, often in contact with the trajector. In Polish, on the other hand, neither the orientation of the container nor its size is relevant. In Polish, the container schema appears to dominate the structuring of the domain of physical space while in Swedish the vertical orientation (up-down schema) characterizes the perception of physical space. In Swedish, a movement into a container without a roof is described with the vertical particles upp/ner and not with the container particles in/ut (kliva upp/*ut ur badkaret – wyjść z wanny).