diff --git a/vlib/v/checker/comptime.v b/vlib/v/checker/comptime.v
index 2138ec271da756..f1348a67313cf5 100644
--- a/vlib/v/checker/comptime.v
+++ b/vlib/v/checker/comptime.v
@@ -668,7 +668,7 @@ fn (mut c Checker) evaluate_once_comptime_if_attribute(mut node ast.Attr) bool {
 	if mut node.ct_expr is ast.Ident {
 		if node.ct_opt {
 			if node.ct_expr.name in ast.valid_comptime_not_user_defined {
-				c.error('option `[if expression ?]` tags, can be used only for user defined identifiers',
+				c.error('option `@[if expression ?]` tags, can be used only for user defined identifiers',
 					node.pos)
 				node.ct_skip = true
 			} else {
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ fn (mut c Checker) evaluate_once_comptime_if_attribute(mut node ast.Attr) bool {
 			return node.ct_skip
 		} else {
 			if node.ct_expr.name !in ast.valid_comptime_not_user_defined {
-				c.note('`[if ${node.ct_expr.name}]` is deprecated. Use `@[if ${node.ct_expr.name} ?]` instead',
+				c.note('`@[if ${node.ct_expr.name}]` is deprecated. Use `@[if ${node.ct_expr.name} ?]` instead',
 					node.pos)
 				node.ct_skip = node.ct_expr.name !in c.pref.compile_defines
 				node.ct_evaled = true
diff --git a/vlib/v/checker/fn.v b/vlib/v/checker/fn.v
index 01b514f252d47e..684f48f0bb78bb 100644
--- a/vlib/v/checker/fn.v
+++ b/vlib/v/checker/fn.v
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ fn (mut c Checker) fn_decl(mut node ast.FnDecl) {
 		}
 		if ct_attr_idx := node.attrs.find_comptime_define() {
 			sexpr := node.attrs[ct_attr_idx].ct_expr.str()
-			c.error('only functions that do NOT return values can have `[if ${sexpr}]` tags',
+			c.error('only functions that do NOT return values can have `@[if ${sexpr}]` tags',
 				node.pos)
 		}
 		if node.generic_names.len > 0 {
diff --git a/vlib/v/checker/return.v b/vlib/v/checker/return.v
index 14c87283a1baa3..4526fadf85f482 100644
--- a/vlib/v/checker/return.v
+++ b/vlib/v/checker/return.v
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ fn (mut c Checker) check_noreturn_fn_decl(mut node ast.FnDecl) {
 			ast.ExprStmt {
 				if last_stmt.expr is ast.CallExpr {
 					if last_stmt.expr.should_be_skipped {
-						c.error('[noreturn] functions cannot end with a skippable `[if ..]` call',
+						c.error('@[noreturn] functions cannot end with a skippable `@[if ..]` call',
 							last_stmt.pos)
 						return
 					}
diff --git a/vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.out b/vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.out
index 8f1043dfffd077..c9a13997d85405 100644
--- a/vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.out
+++ b/vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.out
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.vv:4:1: error: only functions that do NOT return values can have `[if test]` tags
-    2 |
+vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.vv:4:1: error: only functions that do NOT return values can have `@[if test]` tags
+    2 | 
     3 | @[if test]
     4 | fn only_called_in_test() string {
       | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.vv:4:1: error: only functions that do NOT return v
 vlib/v/checker/tests/ctdefine.vv:1:1: error: project must include a `main` module or be a shared library (compile with `v -shared`)
     1 | module notmain
       | ^
-    2 |
+    2 | 
     3 | @[if test]