diff --git a/src/conio/GNUmakefile b/src/conio/GNUmakefile
index 590d0553513c3f14960a924107b9fbb3326fa4bb..a2850c9c24df8495e8f6fbd3c32806e98017bc50 100644
--- a/src/conio/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/conio/GNUmakefile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ ifeq ($(os),netbsd)
  endif
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(shell [ -e /usr/include/ncursesw/ncurses.h ] ; then echo YES ; fi),YES)
+ifeq ($(shell if [ -e /usr/include/ncursesw/ncurses.h ] ; then echo YES ; fi),YES)
  CFLAGS += -DDEBIAN_HATES_YOU
 endif