懂得(dǒng de) - to understand, to know how to in Mandarin

懂得 (dǒng de) is understanding that has been arrived at rather than merely received. It suits principles, values and know-how: 懂得感谢, 懂得照顾自己, 懂得怎么做人. There is often a note of maturity in it, which is why parents use it about their children.

It happily takes a whole clause as its object, and 怎么 clauses are its natural companion.

Two traps. First, this is one word, not the verb 懂 plus a complement, so nothing goes between the two characters. Second, for plain conversational checking, 懂吗 and 明白了吗 are what people actually say. 你懂得吗 sounds odd; save 懂得 for the deeper sense.