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I am struggling to understand a simple exercise in my textbook.
The task is to complete the ending for two words (italics) in the following sentence:
Auszubildende_ und Angestellte_ verdienen im nächsten Jahr mehr
The answer according to the textbook is that the sentence is correct as it is, without any modification. My guess was that both nouns should be in plural and therefore because of the -n deklination go with an additional -n at the end.
While your assumption that (almost all) nouns ending in unstressed -e form the plural with -n is correct, Auszubildend- and Angestellt- are nouns that inflect like adjectives, which do have the strong ending -e in the nominative and accusative plural.
sehr geehrte Damen und Herren
liebe Freunde
Auszubildende und Angestellte
The weak ending in this instance is -en.
meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren
meine lieben Freunde
alle Auszubildenden und Angestellten
An example in the singular.
mein guter Freund
ein zufriedener Angestellter
der gute Freund
der zufriedene Angestellte
Other nouns that inflect like adjectives:
ein Erwachsener, Jugendlicher, Deutscher, Beamter
der Erwachsene, Jugendliche, Deutsche, Beamte
No, they don't have an -n in the (indefinite) nominative case plural:
ein Auszubildender, zwei Auszubildende
But they do in the definite:
der Auszubildende, die Auszubildenden.
