Learn Hardcore German: Unsere Zielgruppe sind Erwachsene, die beruflich weiterkommen wollen. - Our target group is adults who want to get ahead professionally.

However, in sentences with sein + a plural predicate noun, German often lets the verb agree with the plural noun instead, especially if you’re thinking about the individual people in the group:

Unsere Zielgruppe sind Erwachsene.
→ focus on the people (adults) as individuals.

You could also hear:

Unsere Zielgruppe ist erwachsen.
→ here erwachsen is an adjective (“grown up”), describing the target group as a whole.

With the plural noun Erwachsene as the complement, sind is the natural choice in everyday German: the verb follows the plural idea (adults) rather than the grammatical singular (target group).

Why is there no article before “Erwachsene”? Why not “sind die Erwachsene”?

After the verb sein, German often drops the article if you are talking about what someone is in a general, non-specific way:

Wir sind Lehrer. – We are (some) teachers.
Sie sind Studenten. – They are (some) students.
Unsere Zielgruppe sind Erwachsene. – Our target group is adults (in general).

If you said:

Unsere Zielgruppe sind die Erwachsenen.

this would sound like you mean a specific, known group of adults (for example, “the adults we talked about earlier”), which is not intended here. The sentence is about adults as a type of person, so no article is used.

What exactly does “Erwachsene” mean grammatically? Why is it capitalized?

Erwachsene comes from the adjective erwachsen (“grown up, adult”). In this sentence it’s used as a noun meaning “adults”, which is why it’s:

Capitalized (all German nouns are),
In the plural, matching sind.

Patterns:

singular: ein Erwachsener / eine Erwachsene – an adult (male/female)
plural: Erwachsene (no article after sein): Wir sind Erwachsene.

So Erwachsene here is “an adjective used as a noun” (substantiviertes Adjektiv), functioning as “adults”.

Why is the relative pronoun “die” used? What does it refer to?

In “die beruflich weiterkommen wollen”, the die is a relative pronoun introducing a relative clause.

It refers back to Erwachsene:

Erwachsene – plural, common gender (for people)
Therefore the relative pronoun is die (plural nominative).

You can see the match:

Erwachsene, die beruflich weiterkommen wollen
→ Adults who want to get ahead in their careers.

So die here = “who” in English, referring to the adults.

Why is there a comma before “die”?

German uses a mandatory comma before a relative clause:

Erwachsene, die beruflich weiterkommen wollen

The part “die beruflich weiterkommen wollen” is a relative clause giving extra information about Erwachsene (which adults? those who want to get ahead professionally). Relative clauses in German are always separated from the main clause by a comma.

How does the word order work in “die beruflich weiterkommen wollen”?

This is a subordinate clause (introduced by the relative pronoun die), so:

The conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.
If there is a modal verb + infinitive, the modal (finite verb) is last.

Breakdown:

die – relative pronoun, subject of the clause
beruflich – adverb (“professionally, in their work life”)
weiterkommen – infinitive (“to get ahead, to make progress”)
wollen – finite verb, 3rd person plural, at the very end

Pattern:
… die [Adverb] [Infinitive] [Modal-verb]

This is standard German word order in such subordinate clauses, e.g.:

… weil sie morgen kommen wollen.
… die schnell nach Hause fahren müssen.

What does “beruflich weiterkommen” mean? Is it literal?

Literally, beruflich = “professionally / job-related” and weiterkommen = “to come further”.
Idiomatic meaning:

beruflich weiterkommen ≈ “to get ahead in one’s career”,
“to advance professionally”, “to progress at work.”

It suggests career growth – promotions, better positions, more responsibility, better pay – not just physically moving somewhere.

What part of speech is “beruflich” here, and what does it modify?

Beruflich is an adverb in this sentence.

It modifies the verb weiterkommen:

weiterkommen – to make progress / get ahead
beruflich weiterkommen – to get ahead in one’s professional life.

So it answers “In what area?” – in their professional life / at work.

Why is “wollen” used, and what nuance does it have compared to “möchten”?

Wollen expresses a clear intention or strong desire:

… die beruflich weiterkommen wollen.
→ adults who want (are determined) to advance professionally.

If you used möchten, it would sound softer, more tentative or polite:

… die beruflich weiterkommen möchten.
→ adults who would like to advance professionally.

In a sentence describing a target group for a course or service, wollen fits well: it implies people who actively aim to improve their careers, not just vaguely “would like to”.

Why is it “Unsere Zielgruppe” with -e on “unsere”?

Unsere is a possessive determiner (“our”) that declines like an ein‑word. It must match the gender, number, and case of the noun:

Zielgruppe is feminine singular, nominative (it’s the subject of the sentence).
Feminine nominative singular after unser- → unsere.

So:

unsere Zielgruppe – our target group
Compare:
unser Ziel – our goal (neuter)
unserer Zielgruppe – (to) our target group (dative feminine)

What does “Zielgruppe” mean literally, and what is its gender?

Zielgruppe is a compound noun:

das Ziel – goal, target
die Gruppe – group

The last part of the compound determines the gender, so:

die Zielgruppe – feminine.

Literally: “target group” – the group of people you are trying to reach (with a product, course, advertisement, etc.).