Learn Hardcore French: Paul passe l'aspirateur dans le salon.

So Paul passe l’aspirateur means “Paul is vacuuming” or “Paul vacuums”, not “Paul passes the vacuum cleaner”. The verb passer here is about doing the cleaning action.

Which tense is passe? Does Paul passe l’aspirateur mean “Paul vacuums” or “Paul is vacuuming”?

Passe is in the présent de l’indicatif (simple present).

In French, the simple present can express both:

a habit: Paul passe souvent l’aspirateur. – Paul often vacuums.
an action happening right now (especially with context): Là, Paul passe l’aspirateur. – Right now, Paul is vacuuming.

If you want to make the “right now” idea very clear, you can say:

Paul est en train de passer l’aspirateur. – Paul is in the middle of vacuuming.

Why is it l’aspirateur and not un aspirateur?

French tends to use the definite article (le / la / l’ / les) with:

tools and objects you normally use in a certain way
body parts
many everyday actions

So you say:

passer l’aspirateur – to do the vacuuming
faire la vaisselle – to do the dishes
se brosser les dents – to brush one’s teeth

You are not insisting on “one particular vacuum cleaner” vs “another one”; you are talking about the activity of vacuuming. That’s why l’aspirateur, not un aspirateur.

Why is it l’aspirateur and not le aspirateur?

Le aspirateur becomes l’aspirateur because of elision.

In French, le and la drop their vowel and take an apostrophe (l’) when the following word:

begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), or
begins with a “mute h”.

So:

le aspirateur → l’aspirateur
la eau → l’eau

This makes pronunciation smoother.

Is aspirateur masculine or feminine? How can I tell?

Aspirateur is masculine:

un aspirateur
le / l’aspirateur

There’s no reliable rule that “-eur” endings are always masculine (many are, but not all). The safest way is to learn new nouns together with their article, e.g. un aspirateur, une voiture, etc., or check a dictionary, which will mark it as n. m. (nom masculin).

What exactly does salon mean? Is it the same as “living room”?

In this context, le salon usually means the living room / lounge.

Common room words:

le salon – living room, often a bit more “formal” in feel
le séjour / la salle de séjour – living room / sitting room
la salle à manger – dining room

Note: a hair salon in French is un salon de coiffure, not just un salon.

In everyday conversation, le salon is very often simply “the living room”.

Why do we say dans le salon and not au salon or en salon?

Dans is the usual preposition to say someone is inside a room:

dans le salon – in the living room
dans la cuisine – in the kitchen
dans la chambre – in the bedroom

You would not normally say en salon.

Au salon can exist, but it’s used differently, more like “at the trade show / fair / exhibition” (e.g. au salon de l’agriculture = at the agricultural fair). For a room in a house, dans le salon is the natural choice.

How would I make this sentence negative?

Use ne … pas around the verb:

Paul ne passe pas l’aspirateur dans le salon.
→ Paul is not vacuuming in the living room. / Paul does not vacuum in the living room.

In speech, people often drop the ne:

Paul passe pas l’aspirateur dans le salon. (informal, spoken)

But in standard written French, keep ne … pas.

Where would a direct object pronoun go in this sentence?

If l’aspirateur were replaced by a pronoun (le, because it’s masculine singular), it would go before the verb:

Paul le passe dans le salon. – Paul is using it / running it (the vacuum) in the living room.

The general pattern (simple tense):
Subject + object pronoun + verb + rest of the sentence

Example:

Paul le passe tous les samedis. – Paul vacuums (it) every Saturday.

How can I turn Paul passe l’aspirateur dans le salon. into a question?

Three common ways, from most formal to most casual:

Inversion (formal / written):
- Paul passe-t-il l’aspirateur dans le salon ?
Est-ce que (neutral, very common):
- Est-ce que Paul passe l’aspirateur dans le salon ?
Intonation only (spoken):
- Paul passe l’aspirateur dans le salon ? (just raise your voice at the end)

All three are understood as: “Is Paul vacuuming in the living room?”

Are there other common ways to say “Paul is vacuuming / cleaning” in French?

Yes, you can use more general cleaning verbs:

Paul fait le ménage dans le salon. – Paul is doing the housework / cleaning in the living room.
Paul nettoie le salon. – Paul is cleaning the living room.

These don’t specifically mention the vacuum cleaner, but they describe similar actions.

Can I say Paul passe l’aspirateur du salon instead of dans le salon?

No, Paul passe l’aspirateur du salon is not correct in this sense.

du salon would normally mean “of the living room”, which doesn’t fit well with passer l’aspirateur.

To say where he is vacuuming, you need dans:

Paul passe l’aspirateur dans le salon. – Paul is vacuuming in the living room.