diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py b/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
index c61318bcc2..f398f9d9f2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ options:
         created (C(path)) which is how the UNIX command C(ln -s SRC DEST) treats relative paths.
   recurse:
     description:
-      - recursively set the specified file attributes (applies only to directories)
+      - recursively set the specified file attributes (applies only to C(state=directory))
     type: bool
     default: 'no'
     version_added: "1.1"