Error?

Der Deutsche for male and Die Deutsche female Germans? 

(Level 1 — Nationalities)

According to other sources it's Der Deutscher and Die Deutsche.

For multiple Germans, Die Deutsche and sometimes Die Deutschen depending upon a few of the whole country.

Is this an error or am I missing something?

Hallo Peter-S96,

Thank you for your question!

First of all, what we have here are so called adjectival nouns. These follow the same rules as normal adjective endings. There are three categories which determine the ending of an adjectival noun: It has…

1. a definite article
2. an indefinite article
3. no article

Adjectival nouns with definite articles (der, die, das)

Let's just look at the nominative endings to keep things as simple as possible. 

• der Deutsche (singular, masculine)
• die Deutsche (singular, feminine)
• die Deutschen (plural)

For example, “Die Deutschen spielen gerne Fußball.” - "The Germans like playing soccer."

Adjectival nouns with indefinite articles (ein, eine or kein)

• ein Deutscher (singular, masculine)
• eine Deutsche (singular, feminine)
• keine Deutschen (plural)

For example, “Ein Deutscher und eine Deutsche unterhalten sich." - “A German (male) and a German (female) are having a chat.”

Adjectival nouns with no articles

• Deutscher (singular, masculine)
• Deutsche (singular, feminine)
• Deutsche (plural)

For example, “Deutsche spielen gerne Fußball.” - "Germans like playing soccer."

You can also check out lesson 10.8 which covers adjective endings in more detail.

I hope this helps!

Viele Grüße,

Julia