diff --git a/typed-racket-lib/typed-racket/base-env/prims.rkt b/typed-racket-lib/typed-racket/base-env/prims.rkt
index 08beffc6..5cca4df5 100644
--- a/typed-racket-lib/typed-racket/base-env/prims.rkt
+++ b/typed-racket-lib/typed-racket/base-env/prims.rkt
@@ -203,9 +203,10 @@ the typed racket language.
   (let ([mk (lambda (form)
               (lambda (stx)
                 (syntax-parse stx
-                  #:context form
                   [(_ (bs:optionally-annotated-binding ...) . body)
-                   (quasisyntax/loc stx (#,form (bs.binding ...) . body))])))])
+                   (quasisyntax/loc stx (#,form (bs.binding ...) . body))]
+                  [(_) (raise-syntax-error (syntax-e form) "bad syntax: expected more forms"
+                                           (datum->syntax stx `(,form) stx stx))])))])
     (values (mk #'let) (mk #'let*) (mk #'letrec))))
 
 (define-syntaxes (-let-values -let*-values -letrec-values)