diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.java b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.java
index bc78c270a3d..bf02c0d34a5 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.java
@@ -121,11 +121,15 @@ public class QueryParser implements QueryParserConstants {
     try {
       return Query(field);
     }
+    catch (ParseException tme) {
+      // rethrow to include the original query:
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': " + tme.getMessage());
+    }
     catch (TokenMgrError tme) {
-      throw new ParseException(tme.getMessage());
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': " + tme.getMessage());
     }
     catch (BooleanQuery.TooManyClauses tmc) {
-      throw new ParseException("Too many boolean clauses");
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': too many boolean clauses");
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.jj b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.jj
index 79402c1acb5..b293c63284c 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.jj
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParser.jj
@@ -144,11 +144,15 @@ public class QueryParser {
     try {
       return Query(field);
     }
+    catch (ParseException tme) {
+      // rethrow to include the original query:
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': " + tme.getMessage());
+    }
     catch (TokenMgrError tme) {
-      throw new ParseException(tme.getMessage());
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': " + tme.getMessage());
     }
     catch (BooleanQuery.TooManyClauses tmc) {
-      throw new ParseException("Too many boolean clauses");
+      throw new ParseException("Cannot parse '" +query+ "': too many boolean clauses");
     }
   }