The earliest phases of high-mass star formation are poorly understood. Aims. Our goal is to determine the physical conditions and kinematic structure of massive starforming cloud clumps. We analyse H_2_O 557GHz line profiles observed with HIFI toward four positions in two infrared-dark cloud clumps. By comparison with ground-based C_17_O, N_2_H^+^, CH_3_OH, and NH_3_ line observations, we constrain the volume density and kinetic temperature of the gas and estimate the column density and abundance of H_2_O and N_2_H^+^. The observed water lines are complex with emission and absorption components. The absorption is redshifted and consistent with a cold envelope, while the emission is interpreted as resulting from proto-stellar outflows. The gas density in the clumps is ~10^7^cm^-3^. The o-H_2_O outflow column density is 0.3-3.0x10^14^cm^-2^. The o-H_2_O absorption column density is between 1.5x10^14^ and 2.6x10^15^cm^-2^ with cold o-H_2_O abundances between 1.5x10^-9^ and 3.1x10^-8^. All clumps have high gas densities (~10^7^cm^-3^) and display infalling gas. Three of the four clumps have outflows. The clumps form an evolutionary sequence as probed by H_2_O N_2_H+, NH_3_, and CH_3_OH. We find that G28-MM is the most evolved, followed by G11-MM and then G28-NH3. The least evolved clump is G11-NH3 which shows no signposts of starformation; G11-NH3 is a high-mass pre-stellar core.