Breakdown of Het kanaal blijkt plotseling viraal te gaan.
gaan
to go / to go off (of an alarm)
plotseling
suddenly
te
to (infinitive marker)
blijken
to turn out / to appear
het kanaal
the channel
viraal
viral
Questions & Answers about Het kanaal blijkt plotseling viraal te gaan.
What does this sentence look like without "subject raising"?
The unraised version is Het blijkt dat het kanaal plotseling viraal gaat. By raising the subject (Het kanaal) into the main clause, we drop dat and change the active verb (gaat) into a te + infinitive structure (te gaan) at the very end of the sentence. This makes the sentence flow more smoothly.
Why use blijkt instead of schijnt or lijkt in this context?
Blijken means "to turn out" or "to be proven". You use it when there is factual evidence, like a sudden visible spike in a video's view count. Schijnt is used for hearsay or rumors, and lijkt is based on personal impression. Since going viral is a measurable event, blijkt is the most logical choice.
Why are plotseling and viraal placed between the main verb and te gaan?
In a subject-raised sentence, the evidential verb (blijkt) takes the standard second position, but the te + infinitive (te gaan) must be pushed to the very end of the clause. Any other information, like the time adverb plotseling and the adjective viraal, gets sandwiched in the middle field.
Is viraal gaan just a direct translation of the English "to go viral"?
Yes, it is! Dutch adopted this phrase directly from English internet culture. Notice that viraal behaves like a standard Dutch adjective here, and it pairs perfectly with the verb gaan (to go) just like in English.
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