diff --git a/parser.go b/parser.go
index b86904ae..00fca146 100644
--- a/parser.go
+++ b/parser.go
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@ func (p *parser) parseValArray(b []byte) (ast.Reference, []byte, error) {
 
 	var lastChild ast.Reference
 
+	var valueRef ast.Reference
 	var err error
 	for len(b) > 0 {
 		b, err = p.parseOptionalWhitespaceCommentNewline(b)
@@ -439,6 +440,8 @@ func (p *parser) parseValArray(b []byte) (ast.Reference, []byte, error) {
 			if err != nil {
 				return parent, nil, err
 			}
+		} else {
+			valueRef = 0
 		}
 
 		// TOML allows trailing commas in arrays.
@@ -446,7 +449,9 @@ func (p *parser) parseValArray(b []byte) (ast.Reference, []byte, error) {
 			break
 		}
 
-		var valueRef ast.Reference
+		if !first && valueRef == 0 {
+			return parent, nil, newDecodeError(b[0:1], "array elements must be separated by commas")
+		}
 
 		valueRef, b, err = p.parseVal(b)
 		if err != nil {