Ser el pan nuestro de cada día

to be an everyday occurrence; **to be an everyday occurrence**; **to be a daily occurrence**; **to be commonplace**; **to be part and parcel of everyday life**; **to be a regular occurrence**; **to be the order of the day**

Ser el pan nuestro de cada día means to be something that happens very frequently, to be an everyday occurrence, or to be a regular and familiar part of daily life.

It is often used for something repeated, habitual or commonplace, particularly when it is something unpleasant or undesirable.

A common construction is:

Los problemas son el pan nuestro de cada día.

→ Problems are an everyday occurrence.

• something happens regularly
• a problem has become commonplace
• an unpleasant situation is part of everyday life
• something occurs so frequently that people have become accustomed to it
• describing a recurring feature of a particular environment or activity

The expression comes from the Lord's Prayer, known in Spanish as the Padre Nuestro.

The biblical prayer contains the petition:

Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.

Here pan represents the basic nourishment necessary for everyday life.

The expression subsequently acquired a figurative meaning: something that occurs repeatedly and regularly becomes metaphorically "our daily bread".

The religious origin remains recognisable to Spanish speakers.

The expression is very often used for negative or undesirable things.

For example:

Los accidentes son el pan nuestro de cada día.

→ Accidents are an everyday occurrence.

However, it can also be used for neutral or positive things:

Las visitas de los nietos son el pan nuestro de cada día.

→ Visits from the grandchildren are an everyday part of life.

The negative use is much more common.

The expression belongs to a large family of Spanish idioms derived from religious language.

Its biblical origin is especially transparent because el pan nuestro de cada día is still a familiar phrase from the Padre Nuestro.

The metaphor works particularly well because bread was historically regarded as a basic staple of everyday life. Something that happens constantly can therefore be described as being as ordinary and regular as daily bread.

English has an almost exact equivalent:

daily bread

The biblical phrase "our daily bread" is also familiar in English, but modern English does not normally use "to be our daily bread" in exactly the same everyday way as Spanish.

Therefore:

Los problemas son el pan nuestro de cada día.

is more naturally translated as:

Problems are an everyday occurrence.

rather than:

Problems are our daily bread.

The latter is possible but sounds deliberately literary or metaphorical.