diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Dotenv.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Dotenv.php
index 7b17513ab1..d21e043506 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Dotenv.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Dotenv.php
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ final class Dotenv
         }
 
         if (' ' === $this->data[$this->cursor] || "\t" === $this->data[$this->cursor]) {
-            throw $this->createFormatException('Whitespace are not supported after the variable name');
+            throw $this->createFormatException('Whitespace characters are not supported after the variable name');
         }
 
         if ('=' !== $this->data[$this->cursor]) {
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Tests/DotenvTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Tests/DotenvTest.php
index fabe643a01..7137d83b36 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Tests/DotenvTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Dotenv/Tests/DotenvTest.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class DotenvTest extends TestCase
     {
         $tests = [
             ['FOO=BAR BAZ', "A value containing spaces must be surrounded by quotes in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO=BAR BAZ...\n             ^ line 1 offset 11"],
-            ['FOO BAR=BAR', "Whitespace are not supported after the variable name in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO BAR=BAR...\n     ^ line 1 offset 3"],
+            ['FOO BAR=BAR', "Whitespace characters are not supported after the variable name in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO BAR=BAR...\n     ^ line 1 offset 3"],
             ['FOO', "Missing = in the environment variable declaration in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO...\n     ^ line 1 offset 3"],
             ['FOO="foo', "Missing quote to end the value in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO=\"foo...\n          ^ line 1 offset 8"],
             ['FOO=\'foo', "Missing quote to end the value in \".env\" at line 1.\n...FOO='foo...\n          ^ line 1 offset 8"],