Dans ces moments-là

Question

I was intrigued by "dans ces moments-là" which is dropped into the examples without explanation of the choice of preposition. Maybe because it’s a generalisation, which doesn’t reference a particular time? I can’t see that it’s down to the choice of "moment" because you can say "en ce moment".

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Anne, 
There are lots of expressions using 'moment' in French and the prepositions used with each of them vary a great deal. 
Take a look at some of them on the following page -
https://usito.usherbrooke.ca/lexies?lt=moment
 
But

dans ces-moments-là = in those moments 
en ce moment = right now

It is just a case of learning each expression with the correct preposition and this was not the point of this lesson.
Bonne Continuation!