diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/dialoguemanagerimp.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/dialoguemanagerimp.cpp
index a8e6a98c9d..f548c46f75 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/dialoguemanagerimp.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/dialoguemanagerimp.cpp
@@ -249,12 +249,12 @@ namespace MWDialogue
 
         const ESM::Dialogue& dialogue = *dialogues.find (topic);
 
+        MWGui::DialogueWindow* win = MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->getDialogueWindow();
+
         if (const ESM::DialInfo *info = filter.search (dialogue, true))
         {
             parseText (info->mResponse);
 
-            MWGui::DialogueWindow* win = MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->getDialogueWindow();
-
             if (dialogue.mType==ESM::Dialogue::Persuasion)
             {
                 std::string modifiedTopic = "s" + topic;
@@ -278,6 +278,13 @@ namespace MWDialogue
             mLastTopic = topic;
             mLastDialogue = *info;
         }
+        else
+        {
+            // no response found, print a fallback text
+            win->addTitle (topic);
+            win->addText ("…");
+
+        }
     }
 
     void DialogueManager::updateTopics()