diff --git a/sklearn/model_selection/_split.py b/sklearn/model_selection/_split.py
index 4bcc0ae1c5349..65fe033595230 100644
--- a/sklearn/model_selection/_split.py
+++ b/sklearn/model_selection/_split.py
@@ -577,13 +577,13 @@ def _make_test_folds(self, X, y=None):
         y_counts = np.bincount(y_inversed)
         min_groups = np.min(y_counts)
         if np.all(self.n_splits > y_counts):
-            raise ValueError("All the n_groups for individual classes"
-                             " are less than n_splits=%d."
+            raise ValueError("n_splits=%d cannot be greater than the"
+                             " number of members in each class."
                              % (self.n_splits))
         if self.n_splits > min_groups:
             warnings.warn(("The least populated class in y has only %d"
                            " members, which is too few. The minimum"
-                           " number of groups for any class cannot"
+                           " number of members in any class cannot"
                            " be less than n_splits=%d."
                            % (min_groups, self.n_splits)), Warning)