Do I refer to a letter with he or it?

the “he” refers to a person, not the letter

The pronoun "he" refers to a person, not the letter.

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The “er” in the German sentence is referring to a person, not the letter (since a letter cannot arrive just a moment after being written, that makes no sense). The “he” in the English sentence refers to this person too. But yes, in English a letter would be referred to with “it” like any other inanimate object.

"It" would be the proper word to use to refer to a letter, since "the letter" is third-person, singular, and inanimate/non-human. However, in the context of the sentence "he" is referring to a person, not the letter.

The letter is "it" But in that sentence it is not the letter that is doing the arriving it is some unnamed person who is male. Imagine you are expecting a visitor but have to write a letter. You write the letter while you are waiting and just as you have finished it, your visitor arrives.

"It" Noun genders are completely absent in English.

In proper Victorian English, the pronouns "he" and "she" are reserved for humans and gods. Though, how does one teach a language that has no set rules?

I think this is more of a German grammar question than an English one tbh. How are you supposed to know if "er" refers to the letter or to a person?

The problem here isn't necessarily your translation. The problem is that the German sentence given is ambiguous. The way you interpreted it, "er" refers to the letter, which isn't unreasonable given the sentence. However, the way Duolingo wants you to interpret it, "er" in the German sentence refers to some sort of male person who arrived just after the letter was written.

Your translation is correct, and I would have translated it as you did, since without any other context it’s more natural for “er” to refer to “der Brief” (and hence translate to “it”) than some unmentioned masculine third party (which would require “he”)

english doesn't have grammatical gender, unlike german. inanimate object are always it (except a few dialects)

English teacher here 🙋‍♀️ You’re absolutely right that in English, inanimate objects are usually referred to as “it.” The technically correct sentence should be: “The letter was written just a moment before it arrived.” (It is a weird sentence and it doesn’t really make sense but that’s common with Duolingo) However, the confusion here likely comes from the German sentence: “Der Brief wurde nur einen Moment, bevor er ankam, geschrieben.” In German, “Brief” (letter) is masculine (“der Brief”), so it’s referred to as “er” (he). But English doesn’t assign gender to objects, so “it” is the correct pronoun for “letter.” It’s unclear what is meant by the pronoun ‘er’ ,whether it’s referring to the letter or to a guy but the latter makes more sense. So either Duolingo made a mistake or they didn’t express the meaning of the sentence clearly enough. Hope this helps. If you want to improve your English super fast and effectively go check out my English classes on my website. I can also teach the lessons in German. The first trial lesson is for free. 😌 [https://the-english-lounge.com](https://the-english-lounge.com)

native german speaker. I think the example sentence is bad. I think your translation is okayish.. the sentence without context is hard. "er" could also refer to the letter.

These are two completely different sentences. The letter is definitely and always “it” in English. Never “he”. 1. The letter was written just a moment before it (the letter) arrived. This doesn’t make much sense as a thing to say, if you stop and think about how mail works. 2. The letter was written just a moment before he (the man/boy) arrived. I don’t know which you were supposed to say, because I don’t speak German.