Es ist OR Er ist?

In MORE ROCKET GERMAN, lesson 1.3 Lost Luggage there are the two following lines... Wie sieht Ihr Koffer aus? Können Sie ihn beschreiben? Es ist ein grosser schwarzer Koffer mit kleinen Rädern. Shouldn't "Es ist" be "Er ist" since it is referring to Koffer, a masculine noun? Thanks

Hi there, thanks for your question, I'm sure many of you have wondered about that. If you said: My suitcase is big and black and has little wheels" in German than the word "my" would have to be "mein" in order to agree with the gender of the word "suitcase", so it would be "Mein Koffer ist schwarz und gross und hat kleine Räder". In German you could also say "Er ist gross und schwarz und hat kleine Räder" The "er" is referring to the suitcase. However, there are ways to structure a sentence that don't rewuire you to indicate the gender with "Er ist" or "Sie ist". For example, if someone has just had a baby and you asked them about the gender they will either say: "Es ist ein Junge" or "Es ist ein Mädchen". You could argue that it should be "Er ist ein Junge" or "Sie ist ein Mädchen", but "Es ist..." is a set expression and can be used with either gender. I hope that helps. :D