diff --git a/compiler/semobjconstr.nim b/compiler/semobjconstr.nim
index 01d5a8b28a90f..6f3cabcbf40dc 100644
--- a/compiler/semobjconstr.nim
+++ b/compiler/semobjconstr.nim
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 
 # included from sem.nim
 
+from sugar import dup
+
 type
   ObjConstrContext = object
     typ: PType               # The constructed type
@@ -389,7 +391,8 @@ proc semObjConstr(c: PContext, n: PNode, flags: TExprFlags): PNode =
       # multiple times as long as they don't have closures.
       result.typ.flags.incl tfHasOwned
   if t.kind != tyObject:
-    return localErrorNode(c, result, "object constructor needs an object type")
+    return localErrorNode(c, result,
+      "object constructor needs an object type".dup(addDeclaredLoc(c.config, t)))
 
   # Check if the object is fully initialized by recursively testing each
   # field (if this is a case object, initialized fields in two different
diff --git a/compiler/types.nim b/compiler/types.nim
index e56fcffe42879..ba2cc76ce1dad 100644
--- a/compiler/types.nim
+++ b/compiler/types.nim
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ proc addDeclaredLocMaybe*(result: var string, conf: ConfigRef; sym: PSym) =
   if optDeclaredLocs in conf.globalOptions and sym != nil:
     addDeclaredLoc(result, conf, sym)
 
-proc addDeclaredLoc(result: var string, conf: ConfigRef; typ: PType) =
+proc addDeclaredLoc*(result: var string, conf: ConfigRef; typ: PType) =
   let typ = typ.skipTypes(abstractInst - {tyRange})
   result.add " [$1" % typ.kind.toHumanStr
   if typ.sym != nil: