Certain verbs are not normally used in the present continuous tense. These are:
1. verbs of thinking and opinion:agree, believe, expect, forget, imagine, understand.......
2. verbs of emotion and feeling: feel, hate, hope, need, like, love, want, wish.......
3. verbs of the senses: hear, look, notice, recognise, seem, smell, see*.....
4. verbs of having and being: be, belong, contain, have*, own...
*The verbs "have", "see" and "think" can be used in the present continuous but the meaning is not the same as in the present simple. "Have" with an appropiate noun can mean :eat, drink, take, give: He's having lunch.
"See" can mean "go out with or meet" : she's seeing a friend.
"Think" can mean "consider": I'm thinking about the question.
So, "understand" can be used only in the present simple tense: Do you understand?