diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/serve.js b/packages/cli/src/utils/serve.js
index 055b6ff601..7b4214bd06 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/utils/serve.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/serve.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ export async function serve (cmd) {
   const distStat = await fs.stat(options.generate.dir).catch(err => null) // eslint-disable-line node/handle-callback-err
   const distPath = join(options.generate.dir.replace(process.cwd() + sep, ''), sep)
   if (!distStat || !distStat.isDirectory()) {
-    throw new Error('Output directory `' + distPath + '` does not exists, please use `nuxt generate` before `nuxt start` for static target.')
+    throw new Error('Output directory `' + distPath + '` does not exist, please use `nuxt generate` before `nuxt start` for static target.')
   }
   const app = connect()
   app.use(compression({ threshold: 0 }))
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/unit/serve.test.js b/packages/cli/test/unit/serve.test.js
index c229113160..0090eca21a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/unit/serve.test.js
+++ b/packages/cli/test/unit/serve.test.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ describe('serve', () => {
   test('error if dist/ does not exists', () => {
     mockGetNuxtConfig({ target: TARGETS.static })
     const cmd = NuxtCommand.from(serve)
-    expect(cmd.run()).rejects.toThrow(new Error('Output directory `dist/` does not exists, please use `nuxt generate` before `nuxt start` for static target.'))
+    expect(cmd.run()).rejects.toThrow(new Error('Output directory `dist/` does not exist, please use `nuxt generate` before `nuxt start` for static target.'))
   })
 
   test('no error if dist/ dir exists', async () => {