diff --git a/lib/libalpm/util.h b/lib/libalpm/util.h
index c12b39b7..2142171c 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/util.h
+++ b/lib/libalpm/util.h
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 /* define _() as shortcut for gettext() */
 #define _(str) dgettext ("libalpm", str)
 #else
-#define _(s) s
+#define _(s) (char *)s
 #endif
 
 void _alpm_alloc_fail(size_t size);
diff --git a/src/pacman/util.h b/src/pacman/util.h
index e2297f81..9920e74a 100644
--- a/src/pacman/util.h
+++ b/src/pacman/util.h
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@
 #define _(str) gettext(str)
 #define _n(str1, str2, ct) ngettext(str1, str2, ct)
 #else
-#define _(str) str
-#define _n(str1, str2, ct) (ct == 1 ? str1 : str2)
+#define _(str) (char *)str
+#define _n(str1, str2, ct) (char *)(ct == 1 ? str1 : str2)
 #endif
 
 typedef struct _pm_target_t {