Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi.

Bệnh nhân means patient. Yes, it is a fairly formal and medical word, so it is very natural in a clinic, hospital, or medical report.

• bệnh = illness, disease
• nhân = person

Together, bệnh nhân means a person receiving medical care.

In everyday casual speech, people might more often say things like người bệnh or just refer to the person directly.

Vietnamese usually does not use articles like the or a/an the way English does.

So bệnh nhân can mean:

• the patient
• a patient
• sometimes even patients in the right context

The exact meaning depends on context. In a standalone sentence like Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi, English often translates it as The patient has a runny nose.

Đang marks something as currently happening or in progress. It often works a bit like English is/are ... -ing.

So:

• Bệnh nhân sổ mũi = The patient has a runny nose.
• Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi = The patient is currently having a runny nose / The patient currently has a runny nose.

With symptoms or states like this, đang adds a sense of right now. It is often optional, depending on how much you want to emphasize the current situation.

No. Vietnamese often does not use a verb equivalent to English is or has in sentences like this.

English says:

• The patient has a runny nose

Vietnamese can simply say:

• Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi

So the structure is very normal in Vietnamese. You should not expect a separate word matching English has in every sentence.

Sổ mũi is best learned as a fixed expression meaning to have a runny nose.

It functions like a predicate describing a symptom. For a learner, the most useful thing is to memorize it as one chunk:

• sổ mũi = have a runny nose

You may also hear:

• chảy nước mũi = literally nose mucus is flowing, also meaning have a runny nose

Both are understandable, but sổ mũi is a very common everyday expression.

The word order is:

Subject + aspect marker + predicate

So here:

• Bệnh nhân = subject
• đang = aspect marker showing current action/state
• sổ mũi = predicate describing the symptom

Vietnamese word order is often quite straightforward, but the big difference from English is that there may be no separate word for is/has.

Yes, you can. Bệnh nhân sổ mũi is still understandable and grammatical.

The difference is mainly nuance:

• Bệnh nhân sổ mũi = the patient has a runny nose
• Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi = the patient is currently having a runny nose / the symptom is happening now

In real speech, Vietnamese often leaves out markers like đang when the time is already clear from context.

Yes, it is natural, especially in a medical context.

Some other possible ways to express the same idea are:

• Bệnh nhân bị sổ mũi.
• Bệnh nhân chảy nước mũi.
• Bệnh nhân đang bị sổ mũi.

These are slightly different in nuance:

• đang sổ mũi emphasizes the current symptom
• bị sổ mũi can sound like is affected by a runny nose
• chảy nước mũi is a more literal description

The original sentence is perfectly fine.

Yes. You can use it with many subjects.

For example:

• Tôi đang sổ mũi. = I have a runny nose.
• Nó sổ mũi. = He/She is having a runny nose.
• Đứa bé đang sổ mũi. = The baby has a runny nose.

So once you know sổ mũi, you can use it broadly with different people.

A few pronunciation points are especially important:

• bệnh — heavy/falling tone with a final -nh
• nhân — level tone
• đang — level tone
• sổ — hỏi tone
• mũi — ngã tone

The hardest part for many learners is often the tones in sổ mũi, because they are not flat, simple tones.

It is helpful to practice the sentence in chunks:

• Bệnh nhân
• đang sổ mũi

Then combine them smoothly:

• Bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi.

By itself, bệnh nhân does not clearly mark singular vs. plural. Context decides.

Depending on the situation, it could mean:

• the patient
• a patient
• patients in a general sense

In this isolated sentence, most learners would naturally understand it as the patient. If you wanted to be clearly plural, you could say:

• Các bệnh nhân đang sổ mũi. = The patients have runny noses.