diff --git a/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp b/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
index d1f55c896..4f28027bb 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdDenotate.cpp
@@ -127,6 +127,11 @@ int CmdDenotate::execute (std::string& output)
         if (context.verbose ("project"))
           projectChanges[task->get ("project")] = onProjectChange (*task, false);
       }
+      else
+      {
+        std::cout << STRING_CMD_DENO_NO << "\n";
+        rc  = 1;
+      }
       if (context.verbose ("blank"))
         std::cout << "\n";
     }
diff --git a/src/en-US.h b/src/en-US.h
index 915888e07..0334a4579 100644
--- a/src/en-US.h
+++ b/src/en-US.h
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@
 #define STRING_CMD_DENO_CONFIRM      "Denotate task {1} '{2}'?"
 #define STRING_CMD_DENO_FOUND        "Found annotation '{1}' and deleted it."
 #define STRING_CMD_DENO_NOMATCH      "Did not find any matching annotation to be deleted for '{1}'."
+#define STRING_CMD_DENO_NO           "Task not denotated."
 #define STRING_CMD_DENO_1            "Denotated {1} task."
 #define STRING_CMD_DENO_N            "Denotated {1} tasks."