diff --git a/trace.c b/trace.c
index 4713f9165c..4229ae1231 100644
--- a/trace.c
+++ b/trace.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ static int get_trace_fd(int *need_close)
 		return fd;
 	}
 
-	fprintf(stderr, "What does '%s' for GIT_TRACE means ?\n", trace);
+	fprintf(stderr, "What does '%s' for GIT_TRACE mean?\n", trace);
 	fprintf(stderr, "If you want to trace into a file, "
 		"then please set GIT_TRACE to an absolute pathname "
 		"(starting with /).\n");