Yes. Usually. But with a significant caveat: it depends entirely on what's underneath the fight.
Most couples who keep having the same argument aren't actually arguing about what they think they're arguing about. The fight is rarely about the dishes, or who forgot to make the reservation, or how much time you spend with your family. Those are the presenting issues. The recurring fight is almost always about something underneath — a need that isn't being met, a fear that isn't being named, an old wound that keeps getting reopened.
The research on this
John Gottman, one of the most cited researchers in couples therapy, estimates that roughly 69% of conflicts in long-term relationships are what he calls "perpetual problems" — disagreements rooted in fundamental differences in personality, values, or needs that will never fully resolve. The goal isn't to win these arguments or even to solve them. The goal is to learn how to have them without damaging the relationship.
That reframe matters. If you've been having the same fight for years and waiting for it to finally be over, you may be waiting for something that isn't coming. The question isn't "how do we stop having this fight" — it's "how do we have this fight without it costing us so much?"
When the same fight is a sign of something more serious
That said, not all recurring arguments are perpetual problems in the Gottman sense. Sometimes the same fight keeps happening because one or both partners consistently refuses to take accountability. One person brings something up, the other deflects, defends, or counterattacks, and nothing changes — so the issue re-emerges.
If your recurring fight always ends with you apologizing even when you didn't do anything wrong, or with you feeling like you raised something reasonable and somehow became the problem, that pattern is worth examining carefully. A fight that cycles because both people care about an unresolved difference is different from a fight that cycles because one person will never genuinely engage with it.
What actually helps
A few things tend to break the cycle of recurring arguments in relationships where both people are genuinely willing to engage:
Naming the need underneath the argument rather than the surface issue. Instead of "you never listen to me," something closer to: "when I bring something up and it gets dismissed, I feel like what matters to me doesn't matter to you. That's the part I need you to hear."
Agreeing on rules for how you fight — not to suppress the argument, but to keep it from escalating into territory that makes repair harder afterward.
Working with a couples therapist who can help you both hear what the other is actually saying, which is often different from what's being said.
The same fight, over and over, is not a sign that your relationship is broken. It's usually a sign that something real and important hasn't been heard yet. The question is whether both of you are willing to do the work of hearing it.