Learn Hardcore German: In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser und atmen tief durch. - At half-time we drink water and take a deep breath.

In this sentence, „In der Halbzeit“ means “during halftime / at halftime” – it’s a time expression, not movement. So you use the dative:

die Halbzeit (nominative, feminine)
in der Halbzeit (dative singular feminine)

So:

In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser … = At/During halftime we drink water … ✅
In die Halbzeit would sound like movement “into halftime”, which does not fit this meaning. ❌

Is „in die Halbzeit“ ever correct?

Very rarely, and not in this sense.

You might see something like:

Das Spiel geht in die Halbzeitpause.
“The game goes into halftime (break).”

Here „in die Halbzeitpause“ uses accusative because it expresses a transition / movement in time (“into the halftime break”).

But if you just mean “during halftime / at halftime”, you normally say:

in der Halbzeit
or more explicitly: in der Halbzeitpause

Why is the word order „trinken wir Wasser“ instead of „wir trinken Wasser“?

German main clauses follow the “verb-second” rule: the finite verb (here: trinken) must be in second position in the clause.

You can put different elements in first position for emphasis, for example a time expression:

In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser …
1. First position: In der Halbzeit (time)
2. Second position: trinken (finite verb)
3. Rest: wir Wasser und atmen tief durch

If you don’t front the time phrase, you get:

Wir trinken in der Halbzeit Wasser und atmen tief durch.

Both are correct; the first just emphasizes when it happens.

Why is it „Wasser“ without an article, and not „das Wasser“?

In German, uncountable / mass nouns (like water, milk, bread) often appear without an article when you talk about them in a general or indefinite way:

Wir trinken Wasser. = We drink (some) water.
Ich trinke Kaffee. = I drink (some) coffee.
Sie isst Brot. = She eats (some) bread.

You would use „das Wasser“ when you mean specific water:

Wir trinken das Wasser, das du gekauft hast.
“We’re drinking the water that you bought.”

In the sentence „trinken wir Wasser“, it just means “we drink water” in a general sense, so no article.

Is „atmen tief durch“ one verb or two? What’s going on with „durch“ at the end?

The core verb here is durchatmen (to take a deep breath, to breathe deeply and relax).

It’s a separable-prefix verb:

Infinitive: durchatmen
Present: wir atmen durch
With an adverb: wir atmen tief durch

In main clauses, separable-prefix verbs split:

The prefix (durch) goes to the end of the clause.
The verb stem (atmen) is conjugated and stays in the “verb-second/verb-final” slot.

So „atmen … durch“ together expresses the meaning of durchatmen. It’s one lexical verb split into two parts in the sentence.

Why is „durch“ at the very end and not before „tief“?

With separable-prefix verbs, the pattern in main clauses is:

[subject / other element] + conjugated verb + (objects / adverbs) + prefix

So:

Wir atmen tief durch.
- atmen = conjugated verb
- tief = adverb
- durch = separable prefix at the end

You cannot put the prefix before the adverb in a main clause:

Wir atmen durch tief. ❌ (wrong)
Wir atmen tief durch. ✅ (correct)

In the infinitive or perfect tense, the prefix rejoins the verb:

(zu) durchatmen (infinitive)
Wir haben tief durchgeatmet. (perfect)

Could you just say „wir atmen tief“ instead of „wir atmen tief durch“? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say „wir atmen tief“, but the nuance is slightly different:

wir atmen tief
= we breathe deeply (focus on the manner of breathing)
wir atmen tief durch (= wir durchatmen)
= we take a deep breath, we “breathe out and relax,” we pause to recover a bit

„durchatmen“ often carries a feeling of:

releasing tension
taking a moment to recover / calm down

So in a sports context, „atmen wir tief durch“ suggests using halftime to catch our breath and recover, not just “breathing deeply” as a neutral description.

Why is it „wir trinken“ and not „wir trinkt“?

This is about verb conjugation in the present tense.

For a regular verb like trinken:

ich trinke
du trinkst
er/sie/es trinkt
wir trinken
ihr trinkt
sie / Sie trinken

The „wir“ form always ends in -en, same as the infinitive.
The „ihr“ form ends in -t.

So:

wir trinken ✅
wir trinkt ❌ (would be wrong person/ending)

Does „trinken wir Wasser und atmen tief durch“ describe a habit, or this particular halftime? How does German present tense work here?

German present tense (Präsens) is quite flexible. It can express:

A habit / regular action
- In der Halbzeit trinken wir immer Wasser und atmen tief durch.
  “At halftime we always drink water and take a deep breath.”
A specific future arrangement (similar to English “We’re drinking / we drink tomorrow”)
- In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser und atmen tief durch.
  Could mean: “At halftime (in the upcoming game) we’ll drink water and take a deep breath.”
A general statement about what happens in that situation.

Context decides which reading is intended. Grammatically, the simple present works for all of them.

Why is there no comma before „und atmen tief durch“?

Here, „trinken wir Wasser“ and „(wir) atmen tief durch“ share the same subject (wir) and are just two verbs in one clause connected by und.

In German, you do not normally put a comma between two parts of a sentence that:

have the same subject, and
are simply coordinated with „und“ or „oder“.

So:

In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser und atmen tief durch. ✅
In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser, und atmen tief durch. ❌ (comma not used here in standard writing)

Could the sentence also be „Wir trinken in der Halbzeit Wasser und atmen tief durch“? What changes?

Yes, that is also correct:

Wir trinken in der Halbzeit Wasser und atmen tief durch.

The difference is mainly emphasis and rhythm:

In der Halbzeit trinken wir Wasser …
→ Emphasis on when: “At halftime, we drink water and breathe deeply.”
Wir trinken in der Halbzeit Wasser …
→ Slightly more neutral; starts with the subject “we”.

Both obey the verb-second rule:

In der Halbzeit (1st field) trinken (2nd element, verb) wir …
Wir (1st field) trinken (2nd element, verb) in der Halbzeit …

So it’s a stylistic choice, not a grammatical one.