Breakdown of Wir müssen zusammen durch den Tunnel hindurchkriechen.
wir
we
zusammen
together
müssen
to have to, must
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen zusammen durch den Tunnel hindurchkriechen.
Why is it hindurchkriechen and not just kriechen?
While kriechen simply means to crawl, adding hindurch- emphasizes the exact direction of the movement: crawling all the way through to the other side. The prefix hin- shows movement away from the starting point, and durch means through.
The sentence uses both durch and hindurch. Isn't that redundant?
It might look like it translates to through the tunnel through, but this double preposition pattern is very common in German. The preposition durch links to the object (den Tunnel), while the directional adverb hindurch pairs with the verb to emphasize completing the journey from one end to the other.
Since hindurchkriechen is a separable verb, why is it written as one connected word at the end of the sentence?
This happens because of the modal verb müssen. Modal verbs push the main verb to the very end of the clause in its full infinitive form. Separable verbs only split when they are the actively conjugated verb in the second position of the sentence.
Why is it den Tunnel instead of der Tunnel?
The preposition durch always forces the noun that follows it into the accusative case. Because Tunnel is a masculine noun (der Tunnel), it changes to den Tunnel in the accusative.