diff --git a/datasette/views/database.py b/datasette/views/database.py
index 2a8b40cc..56fc6f8c 100644
--- a/datasette/views/database.py
+++ b/datasette/views/database.py
@@ -860,7 +860,7 @@ class TableCreateView(BaseView):
             if not await self.ds.permission_allowed(
                 request.actor, "update-row", resource=database_name
             ):
-                return _error(["Permission denied - need update-row"], 403)
+                return _error(["Permission denied: need update-row"], 403)
 
         table_name = data.get("table")
         if not table_name:
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ class TableCreateView(BaseView):
             if not await self.ds.permission_allowed(
                 request.actor, "insert-row", resource=database_name
             ):
-                return _error(["Permission denied - need insert-row"], 403)
+                return _error(["Permission denied: need insert-row"], 403)
 
         alter = False
         if rows or row:
@@ -897,7 +897,7 @@ class TableCreateView(BaseView):
                     if not await self.ds.permission_allowed(
                         request.actor, "alter-table", resource=database_name
                     ):
-                        return _error(["Permission denied - need alter-table"], 403)
+                        return _error(["Permission denied: need alter-table"], 403)
                     alter = True
 
         if columns:
diff --git a/tests/test_api_write.py b/tests/test_api_write.py
index 0eb915ba..634f5ee9 100644
--- a/tests/test_api_write.py
+++ b/tests/test_api_write.py
@@ -1316,7 +1316,7 @@ async def test_create_table(
             ["create-table"],
             {"table": "t", "rows": [{"name": "c"}]},
             403,
-            ["Permission denied - need insert-row"],
+            ["Permission denied: need insert-row"],
         ),
         # This should work:
         (
@@ -1330,7 +1330,7 @@ async def test_create_table(
             ["create-table", "insert-row"],
             {"table": "t", "rows": [{"id": 1}], "pk": "id", "replace": True},
             403,
-            ["Permission denied - need update-row"],
+            ["Permission denied: need update-row"],
         ),
     ),
 )
@@ -1567,7 +1567,7 @@ async def test_create_using_alter_against_existing_table(
         assert response2.status_code == 403
         assert response2.json() == {
             "ok": False,
-            "errors": ["Permission denied - need alter-table"],
+            "errors": ["Permission denied: need alter-table"],
         }
     else:
         assert response2.status_code == 201