diff --git a/src/libfetchers/git.cc b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
index 54c66d151..e182740d6 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/git.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
         return [repoPath{std::move(repoPath)}](const CanonPath & path) -> RestrictedPathError {
             if (nix::pathExists(repoPath / path.rel()))
                 return RestrictedPathError(
-                    "File '%1%' in the repository %2% is not tracked by Git.\n"
+                    "Path '%1%' in the repository %2% is not tracked by Git.\n"
                     "\n"
                     "To make it visible to Nix, run:\n"
                     "\n"
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
                     path.rel(),
                     repoPath);
             else
-                return RestrictedPathError("path '%s' does not exist in Git repository %s", path, repoPath);
+                return RestrictedPathError("Path '%s' does not exist in Git repository %s.", path.rel(), repoPath);
         };
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/flakes/source-paths.sh b/tests/functional/flakes/source-paths.sh
index 5318806ce..3aa3683c2 100644
--- a/tests/functional/flakes/source-paths.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/flakes/source-paths.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ cat > "$repo/flake.nix" <<EOF
 }
 EOF
 
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#x" | grepQuiet "error: File 'flake.nix' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#x" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'flake.nix' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
 
 git -C "$repo" add flake.nix
 
@@ -32,25 +32,25 @@ git -C "$repo" commit -a -m foo
 
 expectStderr 1 nix eval "git+file://$repo?ref=master#y" | grepQuiet "at «git+file://$repo?ref=master&rev=.*»/flake.nix:"
 
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#z" | grepQuiet "error: path '/foo' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\""
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#z" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'foo' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\"."
 expectStderr 1 nix eval "git+file://$repo?ref=master#z" | grepQuiet "error: '«git+file://$repo?ref=master&rev=.*»/foo' does not exist"
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#a" | grepQuiet "error: path '/foo' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\""
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#a" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'foo' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\"."
 
 echo 123 > "$repo/foo"
 
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#z" | grepQuiet "error: File 'foo' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#a" | grepQuiet "error: File 'foo' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#z" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'foo' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#a" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'foo' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
 
 git -C "$repo" add "$repo/foo"
 
 [[ $(nix eval --raw "$repo#z") = 123 ]]
 
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#b" | grepQuiet "error: path '/dir' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\""
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#b" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'dir' does not exist in Git repository \"$repo\"."
 
 mkdir -p "$repo/dir"
 echo 456 > "$repo/dir/default.nix"
 
-expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#b" | grepQuiet "error: File 'dir' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
+expectStderr 1 nix eval "$repo#b" | grepQuiet "error: Path 'dir' in the repository \"$repo\" is not tracked by Git."
 
 git -C "$repo" add "$repo/dir/default.nix"