Why does she say "Я понимаешь" and not "Я понимаю"?

Question

I've heard people say "понимаешь" when they clearly intend to mean "I understand", such as in this line from the Serebro song Не Время:

Я понимаешь, я это чувствую потом мы всё наверстаем, я предчувствую

Why is it "Я понимаешь" and not "Я понимаю"? Does this have some sort of rhetorical effect?

Also, in everyday conversation: I've heard people respond to my question "Понимаешь?" with: "Понимаешь". This has happened more than once with multiple people.

Answer 1

Right punctuation is

Я, понимаешь, я это чувствую, потом мы всё наверстаем, я предчувствую

The translation is

I, you know, I'm feeling it, we will catch all then, I forefeel it.

"Понимаешь" in this case isn't a really the verb, but acts as a filler. The full phrase would look like "понимаешь ли ты?" (do you understand?)

Answer 2

You should say: "Я, понимаешь, ...", or: "Я понимаю". In the first case, "понимаешь" is related to "ты" - not "я".

Answer 3

As a native speaker I do this too when talking to someone. Let’s look at понимать and its present tense conjugations to understand.

Я понимаю

Ты понимаешь

Он, она, оно понимает

Они понимают

Вы понимаете

Мы понимаем

So saying я понимаешь looks like it makes no sense, but it is like saying, I, you know, or “I, as you know.”

:)

Answer 4

Я понимаю = I understand

Ты понимаешь = You understand

Я понимаешь = "wrong",

Я, понимаешь (что-то) = I, you know (something)