diff --git a/command/testdata/validate-valid/with-tfvars-file/main.tf b/command/testdata/validate-valid/with-tfvars-file/main.tf
index 86a19b8fb..b318fbf0c 100644
--- a/command/testdata/validate-valid/with-tfvars-file/main.tf
+++ b/command/testdata/validate-valid/with-tfvars-file/main.tf
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 variable "var_without_default" {
-  type = "string"
+  type = string
 }
 
diff --git a/configs/named_values.go b/configs/named_values.go
index 3520484b2..61aa2f927 100644
--- a/configs/named_values.go
+++ b/configs/named_values.go
@@ -149,12 +149,12 @@ func decodeVariableBlock(block *hcl.Block, override bool) (*Variable, hcl.Diagno
 
 func decodeVariableType(expr hcl.Expression) (cty.Type, VariableParsingMode, hcl.Diagnostics) {
 	if exprIsNativeQuotedString(expr) {
-		// Here we're accepting the pre-0.12 form of variable type argument where
-		// the string values "string", "list" and "map" are accepted has a hint
-		// about the type used primarily for deciding how to parse values
-		// given on the command line and in environment variables.
+		// If a user provides the pre-0.12 form of variable type argument where
+		// the string values "string", "list" and "map" are accepted, we
+		// provide an error to point the user towards using the type system
+		// correctly has a hint.
 		// Only the native syntax ends up in this codepath; we handle the
-		// JSON syntax (which is, of course, quoted even in the new format)
+		// JSON syntax (which is, of course, quoted within the type system)
 		// in the normal codepath below.
 		val, diags := expr.Value(nil)
 		if diags.HasErrors() {
@@ -164,33 +164,33 @@ func decodeVariableType(expr hcl.Expression) (cty.Type, VariableParsingMode, hcl
 		switch str {
 		case "string":
 			diags = append(diags, &hcl.Diagnostic{
-				Severity: hcl.DiagWarning,
-				Summary:  "Quoted type constraints are deprecated",
-				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. To silence this warning, remove the quotes around \"string\".",
+				Severity: hcl.DiagError,
+				Summary:  "Invalid quoted type constraints",
+				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. Remove the quotes around \"string\".",
 				Subject:  expr.Range().Ptr(),
 			})
-			return cty.String, VariableParseLiteral, diags
+			return cty.DynamicPseudoType, VariableParseLiteral, diags
 		case "list":
 			diags = append(diags, &hcl.Diagnostic{
-				Severity: hcl.DiagWarning,
-				Summary:  "Quoted type constraints are deprecated",
-				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. To silence this warning, remove the quotes around \"list\" and write list(string) instead to explicitly indicate that the list elements are strings.",
+				Severity: hcl.DiagError,
+				Summary:  "Invalid quoted type constraints",
+				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. Remove the quotes around \"list\" and write list(string) instead to explicitly indicate that the list elements are strings.",
 				Subject:  expr.Range().Ptr(),
 			})
-			return cty.List(cty.DynamicPseudoType), VariableParseHCL, diags
+			return cty.DynamicPseudoType, VariableParseHCL, diags
 		case "map":
 			diags = append(diags, &hcl.Diagnostic{
-				Severity: hcl.DiagWarning,
-				Summary:  "Quoted type constraints are deprecated",
-				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. To silence this warning, remove the quotes around \"map\" and write map(string) instead to explicitly indicate that the map elements are strings.",
+				Severity: hcl.DiagError,
+				Summary:  "Invalid quoted type constraints",
+				Detail:   "Terraform 0.11 and earlier required type constraints to be given in quotes, but that form is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Terraform. Remove the quotes around \"map\" and write map(string) instead to explicitly indicate that the map elements are strings.",
 				Subject:  expr.Range().Ptr(),
 			})
-			return cty.Map(cty.DynamicPseudoType), VariableParseHCL, diags
+			return cty.DynamicPseudoType, VariableParseHCL, diags
 		default:
 			return cty.DynamicPseudoType, VariableParseHCL, hcl.Diagnostics{{
 				Severity: hcl.DiagError,
 				Summary:  "Invalid legacy variable type hint",
-				Detail:   `The legacy variable type hint form, using a quoted string, allows only the values "string", "list", and "map". To provide a full type expression, remove the surrounding quotes and give the type expression directly.`,
+				Detail:   `To provide a full type expression, remove the surrounding quotes and give the type expression directly.`,
 				Subject:  expr.Range().Ptr(),
 			}}
 		}
diff --git a/configs/testdata/error-files/variable_type_quoted.tf b/configs/testdata/error-files/variable_type_quoted.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2292ce154
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/testdata/error-files/variable_type_quoted.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+variable "bad_string" {
+  type = "string" # ERROR: Invalid quoted type constraints
+}
+
+variable "bad_map" {
+  type = "map" # ERROR: Invalid quoted type constraints
+}
+
+variable "bad_list" {
+  type = "list" # ERROR: Invalid quoted type constraints
+}
diff --git a/configs/testdata/warning-files/variable_type_quoted.tf b/configs/testdata/warning-files/variable_type_quoted.tf
deleted file mode 100644
index 9201ba62e..000000000
--- a/configs/testdata/warning-files/variable_type_quoted.tf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-variable "bad_string" {
-  type = "string" # WARNING: Quoted type constraints are deprecated
-}
-
-variable "bad_map" {
-  type = "map" # WARNING: Quoted type constraints are deprecated
-}
-
-variable "bad_list" {
-  type = "list" # WARNING: Quoted type constraints are deprecated
-}
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/apply-destroy-mod-var-and-count-nested/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/apply-destroy-mod-var-and-count-nested/main.tf
index 676ddc79b..58600cdb9 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/apply-destroy-mod-var-and-count-nested/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/apply-destroy-mod-var-and-count-nested/main.tf
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 variable "mod_count_root" {
-  type = "string"
+  type    = string
   default = "3"
 }
 
 module "child" {
-  source    = "./child"
-  mod_count_child = "${var.mod_count_root}"
+  source          = "./child"
+  mod_count_child = var.mod_count_root
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/amodule/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/amodule/main.tf
index ce2cc8c78..a5284966e 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/amodule/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/amodule/main.tf
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 variable "amis" {
-    type = "map"
+  type = map(string)
 }
 
 resource "null_resource" "noop" {}
 
 output "amis_out" {
-  value = "${var.amis}"
+  value = var.amis
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/main.tf
index 991a0ecf6..4cec4a678 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/apply-map-var-through-module/main.tf
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 variable "amis_in" {
-    type = "map"
-    default = {
-        "us-west-1" = "ami-123456"
-        "us-west-2" = "ami-456789"
-        "eu-west-1" = "ami-789012"
-        "eu-west-2" = "ami-989484"
-    }
+  type = map(string)
+  default = {
+    "us-west-1" = "ami-123456"
+    "us-west-2" = "ami-456789"
+    "eu-west-1" = "ami-789012"
+    "eu-west-2" = "ami-989484"
+  }
 }
 
 module "test" {
-    source = "./amodule"
+  source = "./amodule"
 
-    amis = "${var.amis_in}"
+  amis = var.amis_in
 }
 
 output "amis_from_module" {
-    value = "${module.test.amis_out}"
+  value = module.test.amis_out
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/apply-multi-var-comprehensive/child/child.tf b/terraform/testdata/apply-multi-var-comprehensive/child/child.tf
index 5d925d93b..8fe7df7c2 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/apply-multi-var-comprehensive/child/child.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/apply-multi-var-comprehensive/child/child.tf
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ variable "num" {
 }
 
 variable "source_ids" {
-  type = "list"
+  type = list(string)
 }
 
 variable "source_names" {
-  type = "list"
+  type = list(string)
 }
 
 resource "test_thing" "multi_count_var" {
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/input-submodule-count/mod/submod/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/input-submodule-count/mod/submod/main.tf
index c0c8d15af..732ce43b1 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/input-submodule-count/mod/submod/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/input-submodule-count/mod/submod/main.tf
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 variable "list" {
-  type = "list"
+  type = list(string)
 }
 
 resource "aws_instance" "bar" {
-	count = "${var.list[0]}"
+  count = var.list[0]
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/issue-7824/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/issue-7824/main.tf
index 835254b65..ec76bc392 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/issue-7824/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/issue-7824/main.tf
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 variable "test" {
-  type = "map"
+  type = map(string)
   default = {
     "test" = "1"
   }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-var-with-default-value/inner/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-var-with-default-value/inner/main.tf
index 8a089655a..5b5cf6cdf 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-var-with-default-value/inner/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-var-with-default-value/inner/main.tf
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 variable "im_a_string" {
-    type = "string"
+  type = string
 }
 
 variable "service_region_ami" {
-    type = "map"
-    default = {
-        us-east-1 = "ami-e4c9db8e"
-    }
+  type = map(string)
+  default = {
+    us-east-1 = "ami-e4c9db8e"
+  }
 }
 
 resource "null_resource" "noop" {}
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/main.tf
index 7212325ec..be900a3c4 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/main.tf
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@ module "mod1" {
 
 module "mod2" {
   source = "./mod"
-  param  = ["${module.mod1.out_from_splat[0]}"]
+  param  = [module.mod1.out_from_splat[0]]
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/mod/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/mod/main.tf
index 28d9175d2..66127d36b 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/mod/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-variable-from-splat/mod/main.tf
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 variable "param" {
-  type = "list"
+  type = list(string)
 }
 
 resource "aws_instance" "test" {
-  count    = "2"
+  count = "2"
   thing = "doesnt"
 }
 
 output "out_from_splat" {
-  value = ["${aws_instance.test.*.thing}"]
+  value = aws_instance.test.*.thing
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/inner/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/inner/main.tf
index 88995119d..dabe507fe 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/inner/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/inner/main.tf
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 variable "inner_in" {
-    type = "map"
-    default = {
-        us-west-1 = "ami-12345"
-        us-west-2 = "ami-67890"
-    }
+  type = map(string)
+  default = {
+    us-west-1 = "ami-12345"
+    us-west-2 = "ami-67890"
+  }
 }
 
 resource "null_resource" "inner_noop" {}
 
 output "inner_out" {
-    value = "${lookup(var.inner_in, "us-west-1")}"
+  value = lookup(var.inner_in, "us-west-1")
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/main.tf
index fe63fc5f8..8f9fdcc56 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/main.tf
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module "middle" {
-    source = "./middle"
+  source = "./middle"
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/middle/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/middle/main.tf
index 1e8235761..eb989fe93 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/middle/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type-nested/middle/main.tf
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 variable "middle_in" {
-    type = "map"
-    default = {
-        eu-west-1 = "ami-12345"
-        eu-west-2 = "ami-67890"
-    }
+  type = map(string)
+  default = {
+    eu-west-1 = "ami-12345"
+    eu-west-2 = "ami-67890"
+  }
 }
 
 module "inner" {
-    source = "../inner"
+  source = "../inner"
 
-    inner_in = "hello"
+  inner_in = "hello"
 }
 
 resource "null_resource" "middle_noop" {}
 
 output "middle_out" {
-    value = "${lookup(var.middle_in, "us-west-1")}"
+  value = lookup(var.middle_in, "us-west-1")
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/inner/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/inner/main.tf
index c36aef10c..7782d1b84 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/inner/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/inner/main.tf
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 variable "map_in" {
-  type = "map"
+  type = map(string)
 
   default = {
     us-west-1 = "ami-12345"
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ variable "map_in" {
 
 // We have to reference it so it isn't pruned
 output "output" {
-  value = "${var.map_in}"
+  value = var.map_in
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/main.tf
index 4fc7f8a7c..5a39cd5d5 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/plan-module-wrong-var-type/main.tf
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 variable "input" {
-    type = "string"
-    default = "hello world"
+  type    = string
+  default = "hello world"
 }
 
 module "test" {
-    source = "./inner"
+  source = "./inner"
 
-    map_in = "${var.input}"
-}   
+  map_in = var.input
+}
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/validate-var-no-default-explicit-type/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/validate-var-no-default-explicit-type/main.tf
index 6bd2bdd5e..5953eab4d 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/validate-var-no-default-explicit-type/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/validate-var-no-default-explicit-type/main.tf
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 variable "maybe_a_map" {
-    type = "map"
+  type = map(string)
 
-    // No default
+  // No default
 }
diff --git a/terraform/testdata/vars-basic/main.tf b/terraform/testdata/vars-basic/main.tf
index 66fa77a8b..af3ba5cc6 100644
--- a/terraform/testdata/vars-basic/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/testdata/vars-basic/main.tf
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 variable "a" {
-    default = "foo"
-    type = "string"
+  default = "foo"
+  type    = string
 }
 
 variable "b" {
-    default = []
-    type = "list"
+  default = []
+  type    = list(string)
 }
 
 variable "c" {
-    default = {}
-    type = "map"
+  default = {}
+  type    = map(string)
 }
diff --git a/terraform/variables_test.go b/terraform/variables_test.go
index 3ac112ebe..320a6740d 100644
--- a/terraform/variables_test.go
+++ b/terraform/variables_test.go
@@ -30,21 +30,21 @@ func TestVariables(t *testing.T) {
 					},
 				},
 				"b": &InputValue{
-					Value:      cty.ListValEmpty(cty.DynamicPseudoType),
+					Value:      cty.ListValEmpty(cty.String),
 					SourceType: ValueFromConfig,
 					SourceRange: tfdiags.SourceRange{
 						Filename: "testdata/vars-basic/main.tf",
-						Start:    tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 6, Column: 1, Byte: 58},
-						End:      tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 6, Column: 13, Byte: 70},
+						Start:    tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 6, Column: 1, Byte: 55},
+						End:      tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 6, Column: 13, Byte: 67},
 					},
 				},
 				"c": &InputValue{
-					Value:      cty.MapValEmpty(cty.DynamicPseudoType),
+					Value:      cty.MapValEmpty(cty.String),
 					SourceType: ValueFromConfig,
 					SourceRange: tfdiags.SourceRange{
 						Filename: "testdata/vars-basic/main.tf",
-						Start:    tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 11, Column: 1, Byte: 111},
-						End:      tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 11, Column: 13, Byte: 123},
+						Start:    tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 11, Column: 1, Byte: 113},
+						End:      tfdiags.SourcePos{Line: 11, Column: 13, Byte: 125},
 					},
 				},
 			},