SummaryThis paper is onwhatwe understand when we are said to understand semiotic sequences, such as sentences, arguments, proofs, road indications, jokes, and works of art, and onhowwe can understand them. The theory of understanding defended here is psycho‐pragmatic, and it is anthropologically oriented. The contention is that we always understandsignificances:users of semiotic systems (producing and understanding signs) have anacceptancerelation with a significance ≪[(phi;(p)]: the conveyed proposition is modified by the universal rationality operator ≪, and by the partial mood‐operator(Section 1 and 2). We can understand significances by the fact that they aredescriptively presentedto the users of semiotic systems ascommon valuesof the community to which they belong and want to belong (Sections 3