Should you “be patient” or “have patience”?

The definitions of patient vs. patience

The meanings of patient and patience vary based on the part of speech. Patient can be a noun or an adjective. As a noun, patient refers to a person receiving medical treatment. If you’re using patient as an adjective, it means to wait for someone or something while accepting delays or problems without becoming anxious.

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Patience is typically only used as a noun form of patient. However, this noun isn’t the same as the noun definition of patient. The meaning of patience refers to someone’s capacity to wait for someone else or something while accepting delays or problems without becoming anxious.

Why context matters when speaking

These two words can get more confusing when you start mixing their singular and plural forms while speaking. For example, the plural form of the noun patient is patients. Patients sounds like patience when you say it aloud. This is why context is important. Patients would refer to several people who are seeking medical attention. Patience still refers to someone’s capacity to wait without anxiety.

How and when to use patience vs. patient

It’s understandable if you’re still confused about whether you should be patient or have patience. These phrases are sometimes used improperly. Some people believe they should have patience, whereas others might think they should be patience. It’s also possible that you know a group of people who are patients at a hospital. There’s no need to worry though because there are tips and examples that can help you understand how to be patient vs have patience. Some examples are:

I told him that he should have patience while waiting on his food to arrive.
In this sentence, patience is a noun, so it’s something intangible that he can have.

There were plenty of patients at the doctor’s office.
Even though patients sounds like patience when you read this sentence, patients is a noun that refers to people seeking medical attention.

You should be patient.
In this example, patient is an adjective that suggests you should wait without being anxious.

You can also use patient and patience in a combined, yet grammatically correct sentence. For example:

The patients were patient while they waited for the doctor to return.
The patients in this sentence are a group of people seeking medical attention. However, they were also waiting without anxiety, which means they were being patient.

You should be patient because having patience is a favorable quality to have.
This sentence uses both phrases because patient is being used as an adjective while patience is being used as a noun.

A rule of thumb to remember is that patience is a noun, so it’s something people can have. Patient is only a noun when it refers to the medical definition. Don’t feel bad if you’ve mixed up these phrases because there are plenty of words, like apologize or apologies and affect vs effect, that people may confuse with others. Remembering the definitions and parts of speech of these words can help you use them correctly.