diff --git a/doc/api/n-api.md b/doc/api/n-api.md
index db277b5cdec5e3..4628d9e4bb9b2b 100644
--- a/doc/api/n-api.md
+++ b/doc/api/n-api.md
@@ -468,6 +468,15 @@ exception is pending and no additional action is required. If the
 instead of simply returning immediately, [`napi_is_exception_pending`][]
 must be called in order to determine if an exception is pending or not.
 
+In many cases when an N-API function is called and an exception is
+already pending, the function will return immediately with a
+`napi_status` of `napi_pending_exception`. However, this is not the case
+for all functions. N-API allows a subset of the functions to be
+called to allow for some minimal cleanup before returning to JavaScript.
+In that case, `napi_status` will reflect the status for the function. It
+will not reflect previous pending exceptions. To avoid confusion, check
+the error status after every function call.
+
 When an exception is pending one of two approaches can be employed.
 
 The first approach is to do any appropriate cleanup and then return so that