Breakdown of Ich rate Ihnen, vor dem Lied ruhig einzuatmen.
ich
I
das Lied
the song
Ihnen
you / to you (formal, dative)
ruhig
quiet, calm
Questions & Answers about Ich rate Ihnen, vor dem Lied ruhig einzuatmen.
How do we know who is supposed to breathe in, since there is no subject in the second part of the sentence?
The verb raten (to advise) implies that the person receiving the advice will perform the action. Because the dative object Ihnen (you) in the main clause matches the logical subject of the breathing action, we can safely reduce the second part to an infinitive clause with zu.
Could I say Ich rate Ihnen, dass Sie vor dem Lied ruhig einatmen instead?
Yes, that is grammatically correct and means exactly the same thing. However, using the zu infinitive is strongly preferred because it sounds much more elegant and concise than spelling out a full dass clause when the subject is already obvious.
Why is Ihnen in the dative case here?
The verb raten requires a dative object to indicate the person receiving the advice. This is an important verb pattern to memorize, as it differs from English where 'advise' takes a direct object.
Why is the word zu stuffed into the middle of einzuatmen?
The verb einatmen (to breathe in) is a separable verb. When a separable verb is used in a zu infinitive clause, the zu is sandwiched directly between the separable prefix (ein) and the main verb (atmen), forming one single written word: einzuatmen.