Learn Danish: Nogle af ansøgerne græd efter auditionen. - Some of the applicants cried after the audition.

In partitive phrases like nogle af (some of), you are referring to a subset of a specific, already known group. Because the group is specific, Danish uses the definite noun ansøgerne (the applicants). If you just wanted to say 'some applicants' in a general sense, you would drop the af and use the indefinite plural: nogle ansøgere.

I always get confused by plurals of words ending in -er. How exactly is ansøgerne formed?

For nouns that end in -er (which often denote people, like ansøger), the indefinite plural adds an -e (ansøgere). To make it definite plural, you just add -ne to that indefinite plural form, resulting in ansøgerne. This avoids the awkward double 'e' you would get if you added the standard definite plural ending -ene.

Why does græde become græd in the past tense instead of taking a standard ending?

The verb at græde (to cry) is a strong verb, meaning it changes its inner vowel rather than adding a regular past tense ending like -ede or -te. The simple past tense is græd, and for reference, its past participle is har grædt.

Is auditionen just the English word 'audition' with a Danish ending added?