diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-misc.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-misc.c
index 660cdec93c..c541fd8b02 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-misc.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-misc.c
@@ -749,8 +749,10 @@ retry4:
 	 */
 definitelyEOF:
 	libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "server closed the connection unexpectedly\n"
-							"\tThis probably means the server terminated abnormally\n"
-							"\tbefore or while processing the request.");
+							"\tThis probably means the server terminated%s\n"
+							"\tbefore or while processing the request.",
+							conn->result->resultStatus == PGRES_FATAL_ERROR ?
+							"" : "abnormally");
 
 	/* Come here if lower-level code already set a suitable errorMessage */
 definitelyFailed:
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure-openssl.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure-openssl.c
index f1192d28f2..6c21f91817 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure-openssl.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure-openssl.c
@@ -206,8 +206,10 @@ rloop:
 				if (result_errno == EPIPE ||
 					result_errno == ECONNRESET)
 					libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "server closed the connection unexpectedly\n"
-											"\tThis probably means the server terminated abnormally\n"
-											"\tbefore or while processing the request.");
+											  "\tThis probably means the server terminated%s\n"
+											  "\tbefore or while processing the request.",
+											  conn->result->resultStatus == PGRES_FATAL_ERROR ?
+											  "" : "abnormally");
 				else
 					libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "SSL SYSCALL error: %s",
 											SOCK_STRERROR(result_errno,
@@ -306,8 +308,10 @@ pgtls_write(PGconn *conn, const void *ptr, size_t len)
 				result_errno = SOCK_ERRNO;
 				if (result_errno == EPIPE || result_errno == ECONNRESET)
 					libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "server closed the connection unexpectedly\n"
-											"\tThis probably means the server terminated abnormally\n"
-											"\tbefore or while processing the request.");
+											  "\tThis probably means the server terminated%s\n"
+											  "\tbefore or while processing the request.",
+											  conn->result->resultStatus == PGRES_FATAL_ERROR ?
+											  "" : "abnormally");
 				else
 					libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "SSL SYSCALL error: %s",
 											SOCK_STRERROR(result_errno,
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure.c
index bd72a87bbb..5e7136195a 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-secure.c
@@ -233,8 +233,10 @@ pqsecure_raw_read(PGconn *conn, void *ptr, size_t len)
 			case EPIPE:
 			case ECONNRESET:
 				libpq_append_conn_error(conn, "server closed the connection unexpectedly\n"
-										"\tThis probably means the server terminated abnormally\n"
-										"\tbefore or while processing the request.");
+										"\tThis probably means the server terminated%s\n"
+										"\tbefore or while processing the request.",
+										conn->result->resultStatus == PGRES_FATAL_ERROR ?
+										"" : "abnormally");
 				break;
 
 			default:
@@ -395,8 +397,11 @@ retry_masked:
 				/* (strdup failure is OK, we'll cope later) */
 				snprintf(msgbuf, sizeof(msgbuf),
 						 libpq_gettext("server closed the connection unexpectedly\n"
-									   "\tThis probably means the server terminated abnormally\n"
-									   "\tbefore or while processing the request."));
+									   "\tThis probably means the server terminated%s\n"
+									   "\tbefore or while processing the request."),
+										conn->result->resultStatus == PGRES_FATAL_ERROR ?
+										"" : "abnormally");
+
 				/* keep newline out of translated string */
 				strlcat(msgbuf, "\n", sizeof(msgbuf));
 				conn->write_err_msg = strdup(msgbuf);