diff --git a/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst b/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
index 572bd485146..6f0f1f12eb2 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
@@ -282,13 +282,13 @@ program:
 
 The simple form, ``assert expression``, is equivalent to ::
 
-   if __debug__ and not expression:
-       raise AssertionError
+   if __debug__:
+      if not expression: raise AssertionError
 
 The extended form, ``assert expression1, expression2``, is equivalent to ::
 
-   if __debug__ and not expression1:
-       raise AssertionError(expression2)
+   if __debug__:
+      if not expression1: raise AssertionError(expression2)
 
 .. index::
    single: __debug__