diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 2ff3b5a774..2a8ae9758d 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -386,12 +386,18 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
 		clean_cmdnames(&main_cmds);
 		fprintf_ln(stderr,
 			   _("WARNING: You called a Git command named '%s', "
-			     "which does not exist.\n"
-			     "Continuing under the assumption that you meant '%s'"),
-			cmd, assumed);
-		if (autocorrect > 0) {
-			fprintf_ln(stderr, _("in %0.1f seconds automatically..."),
-				(float)autocorrect/10.0);
+			     "which does not exist."),
+			   cmd);
+		if (autocorrect < 0)
+			fprintf_ln(stderr,
+				   _("Continuing under the assumption that "
+				     "you meant '%s'."),
+				   assumed);
+		else {
+			fprintf_ln(stderr,
+				   _("Continuing in %0.1f seconds, "
+				     "assuming that you meant '%s'."),
+				   (float)autocorrect/10.0, assumed);
 			sleep_millisec(autocorrect * 100);
 		}
 		return assumed;