Listen mode
Listen mode covers the subtitles so you follow the video by ear. Reveal a word with a tap or the whole line with the eye button.
FreeChecked September 15, 2026
In Listen mode the text of each line is covered: you hear it but don’t read it. It trains your ear to follow fast, real speech.
How to use Listen mode
- In the player, tap the round mode button and choose Listen (or pick it from the mode row on the video page).
- The video plays one line and pauses.
- Try to make out the line by ear.
- Missed something? Tap a covered word to reveal it, or tap the eye button in the side controls to show the whole line.
- Press play to go on.
What you see
- The line covered word by word.
- The translation behind its own layer — it’s revealed separately, so seeing the text doesn’t give away the meaning.
- To look up a covered word, press and hold it.
When to use it
In the app’s words: turn it on when you understand the text easily but not the sound.
Related settings
- Auto-pause turns on when you enter Listen. To turn it off, tap the auto-pause button under the line (or press A). Your choice is remembered for this mode.
- Replay a line with repeat (R), or use Loop and Slow mode for hard parts. See Playback controls.
- Part-of-speech highlighting helps here: the colour tells you what kind of word you’re hearing before you catch it. See Part-of-speech highlighting.
Free or Pro
Listen mode is free. Watching time uses your free daily energy, as in any mode. Part-of-speech highlighting needs Pro. See Free and Pro.
Common questions
Why can’t I see the subtitles?
You’re in Listen mode. Tap the eye button to show the line, or switch to Watch.
Does Listen mode exist when the track is in my native language?
No. With a track in your native language the app offers reverse modes instead. See Reverse modes.
Related guides
- Modes overviewWatch, Understand, Listen, Build and Speak — PlayLingo’s modes turn the same video into listening, sentence-building and speaking practice. Here’s when to use each.
- Understand modeUnderstand mode hides the translation and pauses after each line, so you work out the meaning yourself and check with Show Translation.
- Playback controlsPause, step line by line, repeat a sentence, auto-pause after each line, loop a phrase, slow the video down and hear a line read aloud in PlayLingo.
- Part-of-speech highlightingUnderline nouns, verbs, adjectives and other parts of speech in colour right in the subtitle line, and choose which ones to mark.