Cada dos por tres, literally meaning ‘every two by three’, is a very common expression in Spain to refer to something that keeps happening or happens very often.
There are other similar synonyms for this such as the more generic muy a menudo or muy frecuentemente, but cada dos por tres is more colloquial and it’s also used to suggest that something is happening every few minutes.
There really isn’t a direct translation into English, but it’s close to the emphatic ‘all the time’ or ‘non-stop’ and, perhaps best of all, ‘every five minutes’.
So for example, if you wanted to say that you keep going to the toilet every five minutes, you’d say voy al baño cada dos por tres.
In terms of the origin of this expression, the main theory is that it does indeed have something to do with maths.
Some claim it’s a multiplication (two times three), others that it’s a ratio to emphasise frequency (two in three).
But our favourite origin story is that the expression comes from the cha-cha-cha Cuban dance that emerged in the 1950s and became immensely popular among the youth of the time. When dancing it, it was common to follow the rhythm by uttering the words "two, three, cha-cha-chá" in Spanish.
Examples:
Cada dos por tres se levantaba para fumarse un cigarrillo.
Every five minutes he'd get up to smoke a cigarette.
Cada dos por tres empieza a llover.
It starts raining every five minutes.
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