diff --git a/src/eval.c b/src/eval.c
index 8e9d01308e57d6..795421bb499827 100644
--- a/src/eval.c
+++ b/src/eval.c
@@ -4059,7 +4059,7 @@ eval5(char_u **arg, typval_T *rettv, int evaluate)
 	// "." is only string concatenation when scriptversion is 1
 	op = **arg;
 	concat = op == '.'
-			&& (*(*arg + 1) == '.' || current_sctx.sc_version < 2);
+			&& (*(*arg + 1) == '.' || current_sctx.sc_version < 2 || !evaluate);
 	if (op != '+' && op != '-' && !concat)
 	    break;
 
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_eval_stuff.vim b/src/testdir/test_eval_stuff.vim
index 08ab59ea53d7d2..82f9cac243e61d 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_eval_stuff.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_eval_stuff.vim
@@ -176,6 +176,13 @@ func Test_vvar_scriptversion2()
   call assert_true(v:versionlong > 8011525)
 endfunc
 
+func Test_dict_access_scriptversion2()
+  let l:x = {'foo': 1}
+
+  call assert_false(0 && l:x.foo)
+  call assert_true(1 && l:x.foo)
+endfunc
+
 func Test_scriptversion()
   call writefile(['scriptversion 9'], 'Xversionscript')
   call assert_fails('source Xversionscript', 'E999:')