diff --git a/lib/std/zig/AstGen.zig b/lib/std/zig/AstGen.zig
index a6be743c2bc0..501591c6188a 100644
--- a/lib/std/zig/AstGen.zig
+++ b/lib/std/zig/AstGen.zig
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 //! Ingests an AST and produces ZIR code.
 const AstGen = @This();
 
+const Parse = @import("Parse.zig");
+
 const std = @import("std");
 const Ast = std.zig.Ast;
 const mem = std.mem;
@@ -13816,21 +13818,65 @@ fn lowerAstErrors(astgen: *AstGen) !void {
 
     const gpa = astgen.gpa;
     const parse_err = tree.errors[0];
-
-    var msg: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u8) = .{};
-    defer msg.deinit(gpa);
+    const err_tok = parse_err.token + @intFromBool(parse_err.token_is_prev);
 
     const token_starts = tree.tokens.items(.start);
     const token_tags = tree.tokens.items(.tag);
 
+    if (try Parse.findUnmatchedParen(astgen.gpa, token_tags)) |tok| {
+        const text: []const u8 = switch (token_tags[tok]) {
+            .l_paren => "unclosed parenthesis",
+            .l_brace => "unclosed curly brace",
+            .l_bracket => "unclosed bracket",
+            .r_paren => "unmatched parenthesis",
+            .r_brace => "unmatched curly brace",
+            .r_bracket => "unmatched bracket",
+            else => unreachable,
+        };
+        try astgen.appendErrorTok(tok, "{s}", .{text});
+        // Unmatched parentheses are often an underlying cause of
+        // otherwise more obscure errors, so we only report the parse
+        // error if it probably wasn't caused by this.
+        switch (parse_err.tag) {
+            .asterisk_after_ptr_deref,
+            .chained_comparison_operators,
+            .expected_inlinable,
+            .expected_labelable,
+            .expected_prefix_expr,
+            .expected_return_type,
+            .extern_fn_body,
+            .extra_addrspace_qualifier,
+            .extra_align_qualifier,
+            .extra_allowzero_qualifier,
+            .extra_const_qualifier,
+            .extra_volatile_qualifier,
+            .ptr_mod_on_array_child_type,
+            .invalid_bit_range,
+            .same_line_doc_comment,
+            .test_doc_comment,
+            .comptime_doc_comment,
+            .varargs_nonfinal,
+            .expected_continue_expr,
+            .mismatched_binary_op_whitespace,
+            .invalid_ampersand_ampersand,
+            .extra_for_capture,
+            .for_input_not_captured,
+            => {},
+            .expected_token => if (token_tags[err_tok] != .invalid) return,
+            else => return,
+        }
+    }
+
+    var msg: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u8) = .{};
+    defer msg.deinit(gpa);
+
     var notes: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u32) = .{};
     defer notes.deinit(gpa);
 
-    const tok = parse_err.token + @intFromBool(parse_err.token_is_prev);
-    if (token_tags[tok] == .invalid) {
-        const bad_off: u32 = @intCast(tree.tokenSlice(tok).len);
-        const byte_abs = token_starts[tok] + bad_off;
-        try notes.append(gpa, try astgen.errNoteTokOff(tok, bad_off, "invalid byte: '{'}'", .{
+    if (token_tags[err_tok] == .invalid) {
+        const bad_off: u32 = @intCast(tree.tokenSlice(err_tok).len);
+        const byte_abs = token_starts[err_tok] + bad_off;
+        try notes.append(gpa, try astgen.errNoteTokOff(err_tok, bad_off, "invalid byte: '{'}'", .{
             std.zig.fmtEscapes(tree.source[byte_abs..][0..1]),
         }));
     }
diff --git a/lib/std/zig/Parse.zig b/lib/std/zig/Parse.zig
index c43868a7d4c7..b9755b412ba1 100644
--- a/lib/std/zig/Parse.zig
+++ b/lib/std/zig/Parse.zig
@@ -205,6 +205,40 @@ pub fn parseZon(p: *Parse) !void {
     };
 }
 
+pub fn findUnmatchedParen(gpa: Allocator, token_tags: []const Token.Tag) !?TokenIndex {
+    var stack = std.ArrayList(struct {
+        tag: Token.Tag,
+        idx: TokenIndex,
+    }).init(gpa);
+    defer stack.deinit();
+
+    for (token_tags, 0..) |t, i| {
+        switch (t) {
+            .l_paren, .l_brace, .l_bracket => try stack.append(.{ .tag = t, .idx = @intCast(i) }),
+            .r_paren, .r_brace, .r_bracket => {
+                if (stack.items.len == 0)
+                    return @intCast(i);
+                const opening = stack.pop();
+                if (t != closingParen(opening.tag))
+                    return opening.idx;
+            },
+            else => {},
+        }
+    }
+    if (stack.items.len > 0)
+        return stack.pop().idx;
+    return null;
+}
+
+fn closingParen(a: Token.Tag) Token.Tag {
+    return switch (a) {
+        .l_paren => .r_paren,
+        .l_brace => .r_brace,
+        .l_bracket => .r_bracket,
+        else => unreachable,
+    };
+}
+
 /// ContainerMembers <- ContainerDeclaration* (ContainerField COMMA)* (ContainerField / ContainerDeclaration*)
 ///
 /// ContainerDeclaration <- TestDecl / ComptimeDecl / doc_comment? KEYWORD_pub? Decl
diff --git a/test/cases/compile_errors/invalid_unicode_escape.zig b/test/cases/compile_errors/invalid_unicode_escape.zig
index 1555f2be801a..9251022e1f23 100644
--- a/test/cases/compile_errors/invalid_unicode_escape.zig
+++ b/test/cases/compile_errors/invalid_unicode_escape.zig
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export fn entry() void {
-    const a = '\u{12z34}';
+    const a = '\u{12z34';
 }
 
 // error
diff --git a/test/compile_errors.zig b/test/compile_errors.zig
index 5c5a574caf5b..f6e74d7224f8 100644
--- a/test/compile_errors.zig
+++ b/test/compile_errors.zig
@@ -28,13 +28,53 @@ pub fn addCases(ctx: *Cases, b: *std.Build) !void {
             \\    );
             \\}
         , &[_][]const u8{
-            \\:2:5: error: 
+            \\:2:5: error:
             \\             hello!
             \\             I'm a multiline error message.
             \\             I hope to be very useful!
-            \\             
+            \\
             \\             also I will leave this trailing newline here if you don't mind
-            \\             
+            \\
+        });
+    }
+
+    {
+        const case = ctx.obj("unmatched parentheses", b.graph.host);
+
+        case.addError(
+            \\export fn a() void {
+            \\
+        , &[_][]const u8{
+            ":1:20: error: unclosed curly brace",
+        });
+    }
+
+    {
+        const case = ctx.obj("unmatched parentheses #2", b.graph.host);
+
+        case.addError(
+            \\const c = [
+            \\)
+            \\];
+        , &[_][]const u8{
+            ":1:11: error: unclosed bracket",
+        });
+    }
+
+    {
+        const case = ctx.obj("unmatched parentheses #3", b.graph.host);
+
+        case.addError(
+            \\pub fn bar() void {
+            \\    // Oops...
+            \\    }
+            \\
+            \\    if (true) {
+            \\        return;
+            \\    }
+            \\}
+        , &[_][]const u8{
+            ":8:1: error: unmatched curly brace",
         });
     }