diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -1236,8 +1236,7 @@
     else:
         action = b'list'
 
-    if inactive and action in {b'delete', b'list'}:
-        raise error.Abort(_(b"--inactive is incompatible with --%s") % action)
+    cmdutil.check_incompatible_arguments(opts, b'inactive', b'delete', b'list')
     if not names and action in {b'add', b'delete'}:
         raise error.Abort(_(b"bookmark name required"))
 
diff --git a/tests/test-bookmarks.t b/tests/test-bookmarks.t
--- a/tests/test-bookmarks.t
+++ b/tests/test-bookmarks.t
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
   abort: cannot specify both --list and --rev
   [255]
   $ hg bookmarks -l --inactive
-  abort: --inactive is incompatible with --list
+  abort: cannot specify both --inactive and --list
   [255]
 
   $ hg log -T '{bookmarks % "{rev} {bookmark}\n"}'
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@
 delete with --inactive
 
   $ hg bookmark -d --inactive Y
-  abort: --inactive is incompatible with --delete
+  abort: cannot specify both --inactive and --delete
   [255]
 
 bookmark name with spaces should be stripped