Questions & Answers about Wij zien dat de plant blijft klimmen.
How does blijft klimmen mean "keeps climbing"?
In Dutch, the verb blijven (literally "to stay" or "to remain") is used with another verb in its full dictionary form (the infinitive) to show that an action continues. So, blijft klimmen literally means "stays climbing", which we naturally translate as "keeps climbing".
Why do both verbs (blijft and klimmen) go at the end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch, a subordinate clause pushes all of its verbs to the very end. That is why the verb combination blijft klimmen comes right at the end, after the subject de plant.
At the end of the sentence, could I reverse the verbs and say klimmen blijft?
No, in this specific construction with blijven, the conjugated verb (blijft) must come right before the infinitive (klimmen) at the end of the clause. You cannot reverse them here.
Why is it blijft with a 't' instead of the full verb blijven?
The verb blijft has to match its subject. Even though the first part of the sentence starts with Wij (we), the subject of the second part is de plant (the plant). Since de plant is a singular "it", we use the singular form blijft.