How exactly do you say be patient in Italian? What’s more appropriate to ask depending on the relationship between you and the other person?
In this lesson, we will take a look at the different ways you can translate this sentence into Italian. Read on to learn them all!
Let’s start! Iniziamo!
How do you say be patient in Italian?
Singular: Sii paziente!
Sii paziente is how you translate be patient in Italian when you are addressing only one person that you know well and are on familiar terms with, such as a friend or a relative.
Sii paziente!
Be patient! (singular, informal)
This common sentence in Italian is made of three elements.
Sii
Imperative “you” form of essere, to be
Paziente
Translation of the adjective “patient”
Sii più paziente con gli anziani. Anche tu sarai anziano, un giorno.
Be more patient with the elderly. You too will be elderly someday.
Sii più paziente, Sandro. Non c’era bisogno di arrabbiarsi così.
Be more patient, Sandro. There was no need to get so upset.
Sii is the second-person singular conjugation of essere, to be, in the imperative mood.
Imperative mood conjugation of essere
| io | — |
| tu | sii |
| lui, lei | sia |
| noi | siamo |
| voi | siate |
| loro | siano |
Aiuta Lingookies con un 👍!
Now, what do you have to say to say be patient in Italian to groups of people? You will need to conjugate the imperative verb in the second person plural. Let’s see what this form is in the next paragraph.
Plural: Siate pazienti!
Siate pazienti is how you translate be patient in Italian when you are addressing more than one person. It doesn’t matter if these people are your bosses at work or friends of yours. You will be using this form in both formal and informal contexts.
Siate pazienti!
Be patient! (plural)
Paziente has only two forms because adjectives ending in -e in Italian remain unchanged for both genders, but have to agree with the number (singular/plural) of the noun they describe.
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | Paziente | Pazienti |
| Feminine | Paziente | Pazienti |
If a man is patient, you will say paziente because man, uomo, is a masculine noun in Italian.
Likewise, you will say paziente if you’re talking about a woman, donna, which is a feminine noun.
But paziente will change into pazienti when it comes to plural nouns of both genders.
For example, you could say…
Alessandro non è un tipo molto paziente.
Alessandro is not a very patient guy.
I miei nonni sono pazienti.
My grandparents are patient.
Italian has two kinds of “you”, unlike English. There’s a singular “you” (tu) and then there’s a plural “you” (voi). If you are addressing a group, you will need to conjugate any verb or pronoun accordingly.
If you take a closer look at the conjugation table above, you will notice that the conjugation for the subject pronoun voi is siate. This is why we will say siate pazienti!
Siate pazienti con lui, è il suo primo giorno di lavoro qui.
Be patient with him, it is his first day of work here.
Now, how do you say be patient in Italian when you want to be polite? Keep on reading to find out!
Polite: Sia paziente!
If you are just visiting Italy and often meet new people, unless you both agree on using the informal pronoun tu you will have to stick to the polite pronoun Lei when talking to other adults and people you are not on familiar terms with. With kids, it’s customary to use tu, no matter the degree of familiarity.
This is the equivalent of she in English. Basically, when speaking formally, Italians address each other with the subject “she”, lei.
What’s the imperative conjugation of the verb essere for the subject pronoun lei? Sia.
That said, how do you formally ask somebody to be patient in Italian?
Sia paziente!
Be patient! (polite)
For example, you could say…
Sia paziente, signore. Mi serve solo un’informazione.
Be patient, sir. I just need one piece of information.
And that’s it, now you know how to say be patient in Italian in all its forms!
What next?
Now that you’ve seen how to say be patient in Italian, you might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
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