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# understand

verb (understand, understands, understood, understanding)

«understand» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To understand is to know what something means or how it works. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#m1)
2. To understand someone is to know how they feel or why they act as they do. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#m2)
3. «I understand that …» can mean «I have heard that …». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#m3)

### In the lessons

In school, understanding is more than remembering: you understand a maths method when you can explain why it works. Teachers ask «Do you understand?» — it is fine to say no and ask again. In getting along with others, understanding feelings helps friendships. Phrases: «make yourself understood», «understand each other», «understanding» (kind and forgiving).

### Examples

- Do you understand the question? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x1)
- I don't understand this word. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x2)
- Now I understand how magnets work. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x3)
- My mum understands how I feel. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x4)
- Read it again until you understand it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x5)
- She understood the joke at last. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x6)
- We understand each other without words. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x7)
- Can you make yourself understood in French? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x8)
- She did not understand even now. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/#x9)

### Note

Irregular: understand, understood, understood. Not usually used in -ing form for this meaning: say «I understand», not «I am understanding». «Misunderstand» means understand wrongly. «Understanding» as an adjective means kind and patient.

## In Jewish tradition

In the Torah "understand" often means to grasp with the mind and to act wisely.

**Interpretation.** Tradition prizes understanding (binah) as a gift of God, and Babel's confusion is that people could no longer understand each other.

### Examples

- If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end. (Torah DEU.32.29, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x1)
- For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. (Torah DEU.32.28, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x2)
- Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' (Torah GEN.11.7, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x3)
- Declare, if thou hast the understanding. (Writings JOB.38.4, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x4)
- And where is the place of understanding? (Writings JOB.28.12, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x5)
- What understandest thou, which is not in us? (Writings JOB.15.9, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/#x6)

### Note

Irregular: understand, understood, understood. Not usually used in -ing form for this meaning: say «I understand», not «I am understanding». «Misunderstand» means understand wrongly. «Understanding» as an adjective means kind and patient.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «understand» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/understand/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«understand» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/understand.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «understand» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/U/understand/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«understand» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/understand.html) on Mova free.