Search FAQs

Search for a word, idiom or expression to hear it used in real YouTube videos. This can help with pronunciation, listening comprehension, conversational vocabulary and understanding how a phrase actually sounds in context.

1. Enter the word, or put a multiword expression in double quotes, such as "ça marche".
2. Search automatic or manual subtitles and select your target language in the results sidebar. Automatic captions are often useful for locating spoken examples; a manual subtitle track may be a translation rather than the language you hear.
3. Play a result at its matching timestamp. On Settings, the Delay Video Start option can begin playback a few seconds before the match so you catch the surrounding sentence.
4. Compare examples from several videos or channels. Replay the passage and repeat it aloud if you are practising pronunciation or shadowing.

Country and channel filters can help you look for regional usage, but a channel's country does not guarantee the speaker's accent, dialect or native language. Listen to the audio and check the context: captions can mishear or mis-transcribe words, and a frequently occurring expression is not necessarily appropriate for every situation. Filmot surfaces real spoken examples; it does not score or assess your pronunciation automatically.

In subtitle search, hovering over a thumbnail can load a YouTube iframe and start playback at the first matching caption. Moving the pointer away before playback begins cancels the preview. Hover autoplay is currently enabled by default.

To disable it, use the Autoplay switch on the subtitle results page, or open Settings, set Autoplay videos on mouse-over to No and save. You can still click a thumbnail to play the video.

Loading a YouTube iframe may allow YouTube to receive technical information about your browser and visit under its own privacy practices. Disabling hover autoplay prevents automatic video previews. On metadata search, unlisted search, channel pages and My Notes, clicking a thumbnail opens a floating window with the player inside the iframe.

Yes. On the Settings page, set "Delay Video Start" to 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 seconds and click Save Settings. Videos then start that many seconds before the matched moment, so you hear more of the context. The default is 0 seconds.

Filmot displays elapsed time using complete units, rounded down. For an age expressed in years, a video that is almost 12 years old is shown as 11 years ago; it changes to 12 years ago after 12 full years have passed.

The same approach applies to shorter units, such as months, weeks, days and hours. Use the displayed upload date when you need the precise date rather than a relative age label.

Filmot uses its own cookies and similar storage for sessions, sign-in, security and preferences such as dark mode, language and autoplay settings. It does not use personal information for targeted advertising.

To operate the site and prevent abuse, Filmot and its service providers may process limited technical information such as IP addresses, browser details, requested pages and security logs. Some features involve third-party services, including the video player displayed within a YouTube iframe, hCaptcha and Patreon sign-in. These services may process technical information or use cookies under their own privacy policies. The privacy policy provides further information about these integrations.

Blocking some cookies can interfere with sign-in or saved preferences. The privacy policy explains the categories of information Filmot processes and the services involved.

Yes. Open the Settings page, set "Dark Mode" to On and click Save Settings.

The same page has these display and behaviour options:

• Delay Video Start: start playback a few seconds before the matched moment.
• Language Indicator: show languages as flags, short language codes or full language names.
• Hide and skip unavailable videos, and Metadata videos filter: control how unavailable videos are shown.
• Autoplay videos on mouse-over: play a video preview when you hover over a thumbnail, or preview image, in subtitle search results.
• Experimental Features: enables or disables experimental site features.
• Show nag message.
• Language: the language of the site interface.

Settings are stored in a cookie in your browser, so they apply only to the browser where you saved them. Reset restores the defaults.

Filmot's interface is available in English, German, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, French, Korean, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Open Settings, choose a language in the Language dropdown and click Save Settings. The About page also lists the available languages with a button for each.

Your choice is stored in a browser settings cookie. If the language changes back, confirm that you saved it and that cookies are allowed. You may need to select it again after clearing cookies or when using another browser, phone or tablet.

Interface language controls the site's menus and labels. It does not change the subtitle, caption or transcript languages included in your search; use the search's language filters for that.

Filmot uses a day–month–year format with an abbreviated month name, such as 08 Oct 2026. This avoids confusion between the day and month and gives dates a consistent format across regions.