diff --git a/peg.el b/peg.el
index 0e4221eeb7..3f86a0bf19 100644
--- a/peg.el
+++ b/peg.el
@@ -588,7 +588,9 @@ of PEG expressions, implicitly combined with `and'."
 
 (cl-defmethod peg--translate ((_ (eql syntax-class)) class)
   (let ((probe (assoc class peg-syntax-classes)))
-    (cond (probe `(looking-at ,(format "\\s%c" (cadr probe))))
+    (cond (probe `(when (looking-at ,(format "\\s%c" (cadr probe)))
+                    (forward-char)
+                    t)
 	  (t (error "Invalid syntax class: %S\nMust be one of: %s" class
 		    (mapcar #'car peg-syntax-classes))))))