diff --git a/wordle b/wordle
index 7c353a5..4330009 100755
--- a/wordle
+++ b/wordle
@@ -262,12 +262,14 @@ function retrieve_guess() {
   validate_guess "${GUESS}" ; valid_guess=$?
 
   declare message
+  declare -r pos="${HARD_MODE_POS}"
+  declare -r letter="${GUESS:pos:1}"
+  declare -ra ordinals=(1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th)
   [[ ${valid_guess} == 1 ]] && message="Not A Valid Word"
-  [[ ${valid_guess} == 2 ]] && message="Not A Valid Guess"
-  [[ ${valid_guess} == 3 ]] && message="GREEN Issue"
-  [[ ${valid_guess} == 4 ]] && message="YELLOW Issue"
-  [[ ${valid_guess} == 5 ]] && message="POOL Issue"
-  [[ ${valid_guess} == 6 ]] && message="NEW Issue"
+  [[ ${valid_guess} == 3 ]] && message="${ordinals[pos]} letter must be ${greens[pos]}"
+  [[ ${valid_guess} == 4 ]] && message="Must contain ${yellows[pos]}"
+  [[ ${valid_guess} == 5 ]] && message="${letter^^} is not in the word"
+  [[ ${valid_guess} == 6 ]] && message="${ordinals[pos]} letter can't be ${letter^^}"
 
   if [[ -n "${message}" ]]; then
     GUESS=$(retrieve_guess "${message}") || exit 1
@@ -316,6 +318,8 @@ function hard_mode_check() {
   declare GUESS=$1
 
   for (( i=0; i<WIDTH; i++ )); do
+    HARD_MODE_POS=$i  # letter position that failed, for the error message
+
     if [[ "${STRICT_HARD_MODE}" == 1 ]]; then
       [[ "${POOL}" == *${GUESS:i:1}* ]] || return 5
     fi
@@ -331,7 +335,7 @@ function hard_mode_check() {
     for (( r=ROW-1; r>=0; r-- )); do
       CHAR="${GUESS:i:1}"
       PREV_CHAR="${YELLOWS[$r,$i]}"
-      [[ "${CHAR}" == "${PREV_CHAR}" ]] && return 4
+      [[ "${CHAR}" == "${PREV_CHAR}" ]] && return 6
     done
   done