In most cases, using the demonstrative adjectives ce/cet/cette/ces (see Ce/cet/cette and ces = this/that and these/those (demonstrative adjectives)) on their own is good enough to express this/that/these/those in French.
But sometimes, especially with durations, you need to emphasise how far in the past something happened (that day), or how close to now things are happening (these days).
Look at such cases in French:
Ce soir-là, quelque chose d'extraordinaire s'est produit.That night, something extraordinary happened.
Note that in this expression you use année and NOT an
To say that + [duration], use the agreed demonstrative adjective ce, cet, cette or ces + [durée] + -là
To say this + [duration], use the agreed demonstrative adjective ce, cet, cette or ces + [durée] + -ci
Note that ce/cet/cette/ces ...-là (that/those ...) is much more commonly used than its counterpart ce/cet/cette/ces...-ci (this/these ...).
ATTENTION:
To express in those days in French, you won't colloquially use ces jours-là, but rather à cette époque-là or en ce temps-là.
However, ces jours-ci is perfectly correct to say these days:
However, ces jours-ci is perfectly correct to say these days:
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