diff --git a/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py b/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
index 0c94021fb8..d01f54c5fe 100644
--- a/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
+++ b/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def load_template_source(template_name, template_dirs=None):
             return (open(filepath).read(), filepath)
         except IOError:
             tried.append(filepath)
-    if template_dirs:
+    if tried:
         error_msg = "Tried %s" % tried
     else:
         error_msg = "Your TEMPLATE_DIRS setting is empty. Change it to point to at least one template directory."