This article deals with the semantics and pragmatics of the possessive adjective in French. The point of departure is not based, as traditionally, on the general semantic category of ‘possession’, but on the competition of the possessive determiner and the definite article in the context of associative anaphors. This article shows firstly, that the possessive adjective requires an a priori dependant asymmetry between the two entities E1 and E2 which are implied by a possessive description, secondly, that this asymmetry is satisfied either by the ontological status of the entities involved; by the semantico-lexical relation between the Ns of the entities involved which indicate an a priori subordination; or by a discursive relation between two specific groups or classes of referents established by the linguistic or situational context.