diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 6ee962207c4..36e4231821c 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -1189,7 +1189,7 @@ static int absorb_git_dirs(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 static int is_active(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	if (argc != 2)
-		die("submodule--helper is-active takes exactly 1 arguments");
+		die("submodule--helper is-active takes exactly 1 argument");
 
 	gitmodules_config();