This paper deals with the noun-preposition [N PP] construction in Croatian and compares the construction to its counterparts in English and French. Noun – preposition relations are analyzed as grammatical relations which participate in the formation of the lexicon, i.e. as grammatical devices which are productively used as lexicalization patterns. Based on the corpus analysis, [N PP] constructions in Croatian are identified and contrasted to English and French data. Lexical status of multi-word units in Croatian is discussed, as well as the level of idiomaticity of these constructions as compared to English and French. Whereas French and Croatian employ a similar lexicalization pattern, English uses compounding. The lexicon – grammar continuum is thus observed from the perspective of syntactic structures participating in word-formation.