diff --git a/releasenotes.md b/releasenotes.md
index d76dd2cb4..d9f5d7833 100644
--- a/releasenotes.md
+++ b/releasenotes.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 ### Changes / improvements
 - Const vector -> const slice implicit conversion.
 - Slicing arrays, slices and bytes at compile time #1466.
+- Better error for `int a[4] = ...`. #1518
 
 ### Fixes
 - `Unsupported int[*] $x = { 1, 2, 3, 4 }` #1489.
diff --git a/src/compiler/parse_global.c b/src/compiler/parse_global.c
index 0d3e3e52a..593e45e71 100644
--- a/src/compiler/parse_global.c
+++ b/src/compiler/parse_global.c
@@ -1158,11 +1158,21 @@ static inline Decl *parse_global_declaration(ParseContext *c)
 		}
 		if (!parse_decl_initializer(c, decl)) return poisoned_decl;
 	}
-	else if (!decl->attributes && tok_is(c, TOKEN_LPAREN) && !threadlocal)
+	else if (!decl->attributes)
 	{
-		// Guess we forgot `fn`? -> improve error reporting.
-		print_error_at(type->span, "This looks like the beginning of a function declaration but it's missing the initial `fn`. Did you forget it?");
-		return poisoned_decl;
+		if (tok_is(c, TOKEN_LPAREN) && !threadlocal)
+		{
+			// Guess we forgot `fn`? -> improve error reporting.
+			print_error_at(type->span, "This looks like the beginning of a function declaration but it's missing the initial `fn`. Did you forget it?");
+			return poisoned_decl;
+		}
+		else if (tok_is(c, TOKEN_LBRACKET))
+		{
+			// Maybe we were doing int foo[4] = ...
+			PRINT_ERROR_HERE("This looks like a declaration of the format 'int foo[4]' "
+							"which is c-style array declaration. In C3, you need to use something like 'int[4] foo' instead.");
+			return poisoned_decl;
+		}
 	}
 	CONSUME_EOS_OR_RET(poisoned_decl);
 	Attr **attributes = decl->attributes;
diff --git a/src/compiler/parse_stmt.c b/src/compiler/parse_stmt.c
index 60ba8c505..de50bb60f 100644
--- a/src/compiler/parse_stmt.c
+++ b/src/compiler/parse_stmt.c
@@ -16,13 +16,32 @@ static Ast *parse_decl_stmt_after_type(ParseContext *c, TypeInfo *type)
 	ast->ast_kind = AST_DECLARE_STMT;
 	ASSIGN_DECL_OR_RET(ast->declare_stmt, parse_local_decl_after_type(c, type), poisoned_ast);
 	Decl *decl = ast->declare_stmt;
-	if (tok_is(c, TOKEN_LBRACE) && decl->var.init_expr && decl->var.init_expr->expr_kind == EXPR_IDENTIFIER)
+	switch (c->tok)
 	{
-		print_error_at(decl->var.init_expr->span, "An identifier would not usually be followed by a '{'. Did you intend write the name of a type here?");
-		return poisoned_ast;
+		case TOKEN_LBRACE:
+			if (decl->var.init_expr && decl->var.init_expr->expr_kind == EXPR_IDENTIFIER)
+			{
+				print_error_at(decl->var.init_expr->span,
+				               "An identifier would not usually be followed by a '{'. Did you intend write the name of a type here?");
+				return poisoned_ast;
+			}
+			break;
+		case TOKEN_LBRACKET:
+			if (!decl->var.init_expr)
+			{
+				SourceSpan span = extend_span_with_token(type->span, c->span);
+				print_error_at(span, "This looks like the beginning of a declaration with the format 'int %s[4]' "
+				                 "which is a c-style array declaration. In C3, you need to use something like 'int[4] %s' instead.",
+				                 decl->name, decl->name);
+				return poisoned_ast;
+			}
+			break;
+		case TOKEN_EOS:
+			return ast;
+		default:
+			break;
 	}
 
-	if (tok_is(c, TOKEN_EOS)) return ast;
 	if (decl->attributes || decl->var.init_expr)
 	{
 		if (tok_is(c, TOKEN_COMMA) && peek(c) == TOKEN_IDENT)
diff --git a/test/unit/stdlib/crypto/rc4.c3 b/test/unit/stdlib/crypto/rc4.c3
index 91a619960..29a482ee5 100644
--- a/test/unit/stdlib/crypto/rc4.c3
+++ b/test/unit/stdlib/crypto/rc4.c3
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ fn void! rc_crypt() @test
 	char[200] x;
 	String text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.";
 	rc.crypt(text, &x);
-	char[*] res = x"2ac2fecdd8fbb84638e3a4
+	char[*] res = x`2ac2fecdd8fbb84638e3a4
 	                820eb205cc8e29c28b9d5d
 	                6b2ef974f311964971c90e
-	                8b9ca16467ef2dc6fc3520";
+	                8b9ca16467ef2dc6fc3520`;
 	assert(res[:text.len] == x[:text.len]);
 }
\ No newline at end of file