Questions & Answers about Wir brauchen einen Experten.
Why does Experten have an -n at the end if we only need one expert?
It looks like a plural, but it is actually singular here! Experte belongs to a special group of masculine nouns called "weak nouns" (or n-declension). When a weak noun is used as a direct or indirect object (instead of the subject), it gets an extra -n or -en added to the end.
Why do we use einen instead of ein?
The verb brauchen (to need) requires a direct object, which means we must use the accusative case. Because Experte is a masculine noun, the indefinite article ein changes to its masculine accusative form, einen.
How do I know that Experte is one of those "weak nouns" that needs an extra -n?
A very helpful rule of thumb: most masculine nouns that represent people or animals and end in -e in their basic form are weak nouns. Examples include der Experte (the expert), der Junge (the boy), and der Kollege (the colleague). They all get that extra -n when they aren't the subject.
If the singular object is einen Experten, how would I say "We need experts" in the plural?
The plural of der Experte is actually also die Experten. To say "We need experts," you would just drop the article and say Wir brauchen Experten. In our sentence, the word einen (an) is the clue that tells you we are talking about exactly one expert.
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