diff --git a/tfdiags/config_traversals.go b/tfdiags/config_traversals.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1b6b2441d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tfdiags/config_traversals.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package tfdiags
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
+
+	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty"
+)
+
+// FormatCtyPath is a helper function to produce a user-friendly string
+// representation of a cty.Path. The result uses a syntax similar to the
+// HCL expression language in the hope of it being familiar to users.
+func FormatCtyPath(path cty.Path) string {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	for _, step := range path {
+		switch ts := step.(type) {
+		case cty.GetAttrStep:
+			fmt.Fprintf(&buf, ".%s", ts.Name)
+		case cty.IndexStep:
+			buf.WriteByte('[')
+			key := ts.Key
+			keyTy := key.Type()
+			switch {
+			case key.IsNull():
+				buf.WriteString("null")
+			case !key.IsKnown():
+				buf.WriteString("(not yet known)")
+			case keyTy == cty.Number:
+				bf := key.AsBigFloat()
+				buf.WriteString(bf.Text('g', -1))
+			case keyTy == cty.String:
+				buf.WriteString(strconv.Quote(key.AsString()))
+			default:
+				buf.WriteString("...")
+			}
+			buf.WriteByte(']')
+		}
+	}
+	return buf.String()
+}
+
+// FormatError is a helper function to produce a user-friendly string
+// representation of certain special error types that we might want to
+// include in diagnostic messages.
+//
+// This currently has special behavior only for cty.PathError, where a
+// non-empty path is rendered in a HCL-like syntax as context.
+func FormatError(err error) string {
+	perr, ok := err.(cty.PathError)
+	if !ok || len(perr.Path) == 0 {
+		return err.Error()
+	}
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s: %s", FormatCtyPath(perr.Path), perr.Error())
+}
diff --git a/tfdiags/error.go b/tfdiags/error.go
index 35edc3041b..4ad6b0567d 100644
--- a/tfdiags/error.go
+++ b/tfdiags/error.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ func (e nativeError) Severity() Severity {
 
 func (e nativeError) Description() Description {
 	return Description{
-		Summary: e.err.Error(),
+		Summary: FormatError(e.err),
 	}
 }