diff --git a/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/Tokens.java b/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/Tokens.java
index 2778bbf4..61a4679c 100644
--- a/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/Tokens.java
+++ b/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/Tokens.java
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ final class Tokens {
             this.cause = cause;
         }
 
+        String what() {
+            return what;
+        }
+
         String message() {
             return message;
         }
@@ -139,6 +143,9 @@ final class Tokens {
             sb.append('\'');
             sb.append(what);
             sb.append('\'');
+            sb.append(" (");
+            sb.append(message);
+            sb.append(")");
             return sb.toString();
         }
 
@@ -276,6 +283,14 @@ final class Tokens {
         return token instanceof Problem;
     }
 
+    static String getProblemWhat(Token token) {
+        if (token instanceof Problem) {
+            return ((Problem) token).what();
+        } else {
+            throw new ConfigException.BugOrBroken("tried to get problem what from " + token);
+        }
+    }
+
     static String getProblemMessage(Token token) {
         if (token instanceof Problem) {
             return ((Problem) token).message();
diff --git a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TokenizerTest.scala b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TokenizerTest.scala
index ba108efa..2449a37e 100644
--- a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TokenizerTest.scala
+++ b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TokenizerTest.scala
@@ -229,9 +229,9 @@ class TokenizerTest extends TestUtils {
             val problem = tokenized(1)
             assertTrue("reserved char is a problem", Tokens.isProblem(problem))
             if (invalid == '+')
-                assertEquals("'end of file'", problem.toString())
+                assertEquals("end of file", Tokens.getProblemWhat(problem))
             else
-                assertEquals("'" + invalid + "'", problem.toString())
+                assertEquals("" + invalid, Tokens.getProblemWhat(problem))
         }
     }
 }