diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/smartypants/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/smartypants/default.nix
index 0e5ef76927e4..d2ca5f297322 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/smartypants/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/smartypants/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 { lib
 , buildPythonPackage
 , fetchFromGitHub
+, fetchpatch2
 , isPyPy
+, setuptools
 , docutils
 , pygments
 , pytestCheckHook
@@ -9,8 +11,9 @@
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   version = "2.0.1";
-  format = "setuptools";
   pname = "smartypants";
+  pyproject = true;
+
   disabled = isPyPy;
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
@@ -20,6 +23,19 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     sha256 = "00p1gnb9pzb3svdq3c5b9b332gsp50wrqqa39gj00m133zadanjp";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    (fetchpatch2 {
+      # https://github.com/leohemsted/smartypants.py/pull/21
+      name = "smartypants-3.12-compat.patch";
+      url = "https://github.com/leohemsted/smartypants.py/commit/ea46bf36343044a7a61ba3acce4a7f188d986ec5.patch";
+      hash = "sha256-9lsiiZKFFKHLy7j3y9ff4gt01szY+2AHpWPAKQgKwZg=";
+    })
+  ];
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    setuptools
+  ];
+
   nativeCheckInputs = [
     docutils
     pygments