French language Q&A Forum

Hi all,

just wondering if the liaison in the following sentence between "sortis" and "ensemble" is required, forbidden, or optional?

"Nous sommes sortis ensemble."

or similarly, 

"J'ai pris un taxi."

  I was taught that "Comment vous appelez-vous" was a perfectly proper way to ask "What is your name."  It was in our textbook as the only way to ask this question.  Later, when my daughter took French, she learned to say, "

Agreed.  Both choices are corrrect and depend on the context.  The same would apply when using ancienne.  One could say "mon ancienne voiture" or "ma voiture ancienne", depending on the circumstances.  Is it my old car or my prior car?  

I'm still somehow confused on when to use des vs. les. For example, in the translation exercises,

"and boys can play with dolls" is translated to "et les garçons peuvent jouer avec des poupées".

But I thought it should be LES poupées because it's referring to dolls (in general). Is this a case of either one working?

Is there any difference between "à temps" and "à l'heure"?

Any the proper french phrases for "on time" and "in time" ?

Merci boucoup d'avance!