diff --git a/dev-tools/omdb/src/bin/omdb/db.rs b/dev-tools/omdb/src/bin/omdb/db.rs
index 85c55d4e61..08a783d8c8 100644
--- a/dev-tools/omdb/src/bin/omdb/db.rs
+++ b/dev-tools/omdb/src/bin/omdb/db.rs
@@ -2477,8 +2477,8 @@ async fn cmd_db_inventory_collections_show(
         eprintln!(
             "warning: {} collection error{} {} reported above",
             nerrors,
+            if nerrors == 1 { "" } else { "s" },
             if nerrors == 1 { "was" } else { "were" },
-            if nerrors == 1 { "" } else { "s" }
         );
     }