diff --git a/nova/conf/compute.py b/nova/conf/compute.py
index a2e516fb96b5..1b63a12e1190 100644
--- a/nova/conf/compute.py
+++ b/nova/conf/compute.py
@@ -946,7 +946,7 @@ Possible values:
         default=60,
         min=1,
         help="""
-Total time to wait in seconds for an instance toperform a clean
+Total time to wait in seconds for an instance to perform a clean
 shutdown.
 
 It determines the overall period (in seconds) a VM is allowed to