diff --git a/src/vim9compile.c b/src/vim9compile.c
index b035333..2b1f651 100644
--- a/src/vim9compile.c
+++ b/src/vim9compile.c
@@ -7727,7 +7727,7 @@
 	    {
 		if (!starts_with_colon)
 		{
-		    emsg(_(e_colon_required_before_a_range));
+		    semsg(_(e_colon_required_before_range_str), cmd);
 		    goto erret;
 		}
 		if (ends_excmd2(line, ea.cmd))